Liverpool fans deliver instant reactions to Alexander Isak’s World Cup embarrassment
Liverpool fans have been weighing in on Alexander Isak’s Sweden struggles following another lacklustre performance for his country.
Liverpool did not rest on their laurels in the summer window after winning the Premier League title, as Alexander Isak‘s long saga eventually saw him leave Newcastle to move to Anfield on deadline day for a British record transfer fee of £125m.
He netted over 20 league goals in his last two seasons at Newcastle, but is yet to start firing on Merseyside with just one strike in his first six games at the club.
Isak failed to make an impact for Sweden last month during some pivotal World Cup qualifying games against Slovenia and Kosovo, but that was blamed on his lack of fitness, and he played six times for Liverpool prior to this international break to increase his chances of making an impact.
Sweden lost 2-0 to Switzerland on Friday (10 October) to stay bottom of Group B, and hopes of a better result and performance were much higher as they took on Kosovo on Monday (13 October), but Isak’s woes meant they struggled once more.
Liverpool fans react as Isak fails to shine for Sweden yet again
Isak lined up in a strike partnership with Arsenal man Viktor Gyokeres in Gothenburg, but both players failed to make an impact as Sweden fell to a 1-0 defeat to dash their chances of qualification through the groups.
The 26-year-old took six shots, of which only two hit the target, did not create a chance, missed a big chance to score, and only attempted three ground duels all evening, despite staying on for the full 90 minutes.
Numerous Liverpool supporters took to X to share their reaction to another disappointing performance from their big-money striker, as one said: “What happened to Alexander Isak? He used to put the fear of God in every defence in the world, now he looks toothless,” while another said: “I am seriously starting to get worried about this guy.”
One supporter bemoaned the lack of quality around him in his national team, saying: “Honestly, what’s wrong with the Sweden team? Isak and Gyokeres and whoever they have there yet they keep losing matches everyday,” while another insisted that he was not even needed in the summer, as they said: “Don’t know why we genuinely (needed) him me, only fella we need is this man,” with a gif of Hugo Ekitike.
More were annoyed at his apparent continued lack of fitness, as one added: “What (h)as happened to him at all? Can’t keep blaming match fitness now,” and another said: “He has had 2 months of football now he should be upto speed now.”
Arne Slot has backed Isak to improve and live up to his worth
Premier League legend Matt Le Tissier has exclusively told Football Insider that Arne Slot is unlikely to play Isak and Ekitike together in attack anytime soon, but the latter has been in much better form and so seems likely to keep starting regularly.
That leaves Isak with a potentially tough route to get into the Reds’ starting eleven, as Slot has not chosen to play the pair with each other aside from for six minutes against Galatasaray in the Champions League, and that continued last time out against Chelsea as the Swede came off for Ekitike in the 74th minute.
The Dutch boss has understandably backed his £125m man to come good soon enough, and he outlined prior to that game at Stamford Bridge why Isak has not had an easy start to life on Merseyside.
He said: “I said to him that the difficult thing is you will have your appearances, but if you add minutes together it probably won’t be more than two 90 minutes. That’s what we inherited from his situation at Newcastle. We knew this before so it’s not an excuse.
“[The] main thing is he has to adjust to his team-mates and they have to adjust to him. He had a great counter moment against Palace but the midfield didn’t see it. These are the things that they have to work on, but that’s been harder than last season because of Alexander, Alexis [Mac Allister], Conor [Bradley] and playing Dom [Dominik Szoboszlai].”
He needs to get back to his Magpies form soon enough, but these last two showings on international duty will not fill many at Liverpool with much confidence that he is set to improve quickly.