Hugo will learn from him though. I know he missed an open goal today, but I like Ekitike
Isakly what we need
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This is a silly way of describing their difference in style and experience.
I could sugarcoat it but it is what it is.
Even an Isak devoid of match fitness looked like he was tailor-made for the team.
I think he was one of the reasons Wirtz looked a lot better.
Ekitike and isak play very differently. Isak seems to thrive on not being involved and finding the space, and then he's just there to kick start something. Ekitike seems to just want to get his foot on the ball and force something. I agree thats why wirtz looked better, as Isak was happier to move in to available space, rather than coming to the ball and stepping on each others toes
Yeah, wirtz will play better with someone who will offer runs in front of him rather than dropping deep. That doesn't make Owen a more intelligent player than firmino.
What are you arguing? That Isak is thicker than Ekitike?
Haha.
I'm arguing that "intelligence" here is a weird way of attributing the difference between ekitike and isak.
Game intelligence. Where to be on the pitch, which runs to make etc.
Most of our players have the intelligence to run past opponents. Thats my contribution.
Oh you can drop that shit right now! Tekkers my arse. Sigh
Macca's not had a great start. Wonder if Gakpo, Szobo, and Wirtz would work on occasions.
I'm guessing its because he's lacking match fitness and sharpness. Those 3 are still are best 3 in midfield.
I would. Both criticisms are way premature. The fact that Wirtz has been here a little longer doesn't make any meaningful difference to that IMO.
I disagree. One might be premature, the other would just be daft.
If they're both premature they're both daft IMO. Let's agree to differ.
Don't think so, I'd have Gravenberch and Macca or Szabo behind them (4-2-3-1)
PAUL JOYCE: Arne Slot’s to-do list: get Isak running, drop Konate, beef up midfield
For all Isak’s hard-headedness during the summer, there has been no sign of that at Anfield. No evidence of him making life difficult for opposing defenders in the same way that he irritated Newcastle’s executives.
If he looked to repay a sliver of Slot’s faith by chasing down rivals, making a nuisance of himself, trying to lift the crowd, then that would at least be something. Darwin Núñez would, at the very least, do that. Instead, the 26-year-old Swede has been peripheral.
That Isak was not in the right area when Salah took on Forest’s back line was alarming because he gorged on such opportunities last season.
Having studied the 27 goals he scored for Newcastle in all competitions last season and three came from outside the penalty area, including one against Liverpool, and five were penalties. The other 19 were dispatched from central positions in the vicinity of the six-yard box, many coming from crosses or as a result of fast breaks into the sort of space that is not usually afforded to Liverpool. Three of those 19 came from Newcastle pressing high and forcing a mistake.
Isak’s sole goal for Liverpool, against Southampton in the Carabao Cup in September, came from a similar route. However, Slot’s side are being denied the opportunity to win the ball back in their opponents’ third. Sean Dyche admitted he told his Forest players not to play out of defence to negate the home team’s pressing capabilities.
Liverpool’s attacking play has also become ponderous. There was a near two-minute passage when they trailed 2-0 where passes were played aimlessly from side to side with no clear plan. Dominik Szoboszlai, who at the start of the move had refrained from playing the substitute Hugo Ekitiké in behind the Forest rearguard, would eventually lose patience and try a speculative shot.
Few of Liverpool’s 31 goals in 2025-26 have come from the sort of repeated patterns of play from which Isak would benefit, as he did with Jacob Murphy on Tyneside, for example.
For all Isak’s hard-headedness during the summer, there has been no sign of that at Anfield. No evidence of him making life difficult for opposing defenders in the same way that he irritated Newcastle’s executives.
If he looked to repay a sliver of Slot’s faith by chasing down rivals, making a nuisance of himself, trying to lift the crowd, then that would at least be something. Darwin Núñez would, at the very least, do that. Instead, the 26-year-old Swede has been peripheral.
That Isak was not in the right area when Salah took on Forest’s back line was alarming because he gorged on such opportunities last season.
Having studied the 27 goals he scored for Newcastle in all competitions last season and three came from outside the penalty area, including one against Liverpool, and five were penalties. The other 19 were dispatched from central positions in the vicinity of the six-yard box, many coming from crosses or as a result of fast breaks into the sort of space that is not usually afforded to Liverpool. Three of those 19 came from Newcastle pressing high and forcing a mistake.
Isak’s sole goal for Liverpool, against Southampton in the Carabao Cup in September, came from a similar route. However, Slot’s side are being denied the opportunity to win the ball back in their opponents’ third. Sean Dyche admitted he told his Forest players not to play out of defence to negate the home team’s pressing capabilities.
Liverpool’s attacking play has also become ponderous. There was a near two-minute passage when they trailed 2-0 where passes were played aimlessly from side to side with no clear plan. Dominik Szoboszlai, who at the start of the move had refrained from playing the substitute Hugo Ekitiké in behind the Forest rearguard, would eventually lose patience and try a speculative shot.
Few of Liverpool’s 31 goals in 2025-26 have come from the sort of repeated patterns of play from which Isak would benefit, as he did with Jacob Murphy on Tyneside, for example.
Chris Bascombe: Alexander Isak has been so bad for Liverpool they are missing Darwin Nunez
Amid the debris of the most horrendous Anfield loss of Arne Slot’s reign, there will no doubt still be those studiously studying the broader circumstances, arguing vehemently that it is a matter of when, not if, Isak will justify his price tag.
It would be useful if those blessed with such expertise could offer a timeline for the rest of us. The spring of 2026, perhaps? Or are we to believe that next August has been circled as a date in the diary for Liverpool’s most expensive ever footballer to show up? Granted, Isak’s “pre-season” conditioning at Liverpool began on September 1. Was it part of the deal that it would continue for at least half the season? Is it reasonable to expect more for £125m? A single Premier League goal before Christmas would be a start. How about the occasional sprint, or attempt to win the ball from a dawdling defender?
Among the many questions around Isak’s minimal contribution to date, one is difficult to shake off: just how unfit did he get when beginning his self-inflicted exile from Newcastle United? The suggestions at the time were that he was training with his former club Real Sociedad. What monstrosity of a health club do they run in the Basque country?
If Isak’s summer camp was limited to occasional jogging, he executed those drills to perfection upon his recall this weekend. No shots on target, no duels or tackles won, and no big chances in his 68 minutes told the sorry tale. Liverpool used to have the ultimate workaholic front line. The only high press Isak has executed since moving to Anfield has kept his club suit looking sharp.
The striker Isak replaced, Darwin Núñez, was castigated for vastly superior performances than this. Núñez lacked general poise and finesse, but flawed as he was you could never take your eyes off him. You would have struggled to notice Isak was on the pitch on Saturday until his number was up.
He was not alone in his minimal contribution. A collective effort has gone into making Isak resemble Christian Benteke in a Liverpool shirt more than Núñez, or the gold standard for recent Liverpool 9s, Roberto Firmino.
The same can be said of the numerous factors which have thus far made Wirtz look more like Nigel Clough in the No 7 jersey, when he was supposed to be Peter Beardsley.
Everything that made Liverpool so good last season has momentarily evaporated, every segment of the pitch compromised. Absenteeism and the forming of new relationships can be an explanation more than an excuse, but where once the players and manager found solutions to setbacks, this season they have consistently panicked when down and transformed perilous positions into dire ones.
The reassurances that it will come good in time will continue. Such is the quality within Slot’s squad, the odds are that eventually it will improve for the team and club as a whole, even if recent arrivals still have to show the shirt is not too heavy for them.
But this was not the plan. Liverpool were meant to be striding powerfully forward from a position of strength, not drifting backwards in readiness for a fresh assault next season.
Tom Werner, the Liverpool chairman, watched the horror of the 3-0 loss to Forest unfold from the directors’ box, no doubt dispatching his private report of the latest abomination to his FSG colleagues.
The appeals for patience – and assurances the dip will not last – can extend for another week.
That cannot change the sobering reality that Liverpool’s owners must be watching the record signings with growing concern that they have put their hands in their pockets and emerged with pieces of fluff rather than gold coins.
Amid the debris of the most horrendous Anfield loss of Arne Slot’s reign, there will no doubt still be those studiously studying the broader circumstances, arguing vehemently that it is a matter of when, not if, Isak will justify his price tag.
It would be useful if those blessed with such expertise could offer a timeline for the rest of us. The spring of 2026, perhaps? Or are we to believe that next August has been circled as a date in the diary for Liverpool’s most expensive ever footballer to show up? Granted, Isak’s “pre-season” conditioning at Liverpool began on September 1. Was it part of the deal that it would continue for at least half the season? Is it reasonable to expect more for £125m? A single Premier League goal before Christmas would be a start. How about the occasional sprint, or attempt to win the ball from a dawdling defender?
Among the many questions around Isak’s minimal contribution to date, one is difficult to shake off: just how unfit did he get when beginning his self-inflicted exile from Newcastle United? The suggestions at the time were that he was training with his former club Real Sociedad. What monstrosity of a health club do they run in the Basque country?
If Isak’s summer camp was limited to occasional jogging, he executed those drills to perfection upon his recall this weekend. No shots on target, no duels or tackles won, and no big chances in his 68 minutes told the sorry tale. Liverpool used to have the ultimate workaholic front line. The only high press Isak has executed since moving to Anfield has kept his club suit looking sharp.
The striker Isak replaced, Darwin Núñez, was castigated for vastly superior performances than this. Núñez lacked general poise and finesse, but flawed as he was you could never take your eyes off him. You would have struggled to notice Isak was on the pitch on Saturday until his number was up.
He was not alone in his minimal contribution. A collective effort has gone into making Isak resemble Christian Benteke in a Liverpool shirt more than Núñez, or the gold standard for recent Liverpool 9s, Roberto Firmino.
The same can be said of the numerous factors which have thus far made Wirtz look more like Nigel Clough in the No 7 jersey, when he was supposed to be Peter Beardsley.
Everything that made Liverpool so good last season has momentarily evaporated, every segment of the pitch compromised. Absenteeism and the forming of new relationships can be an explanation more than an excuse, but where once the players and manager found solutions to setbacks, this season they have consistently panicked when down and transformed perilous positions into dire ones.
The reassurances that it will come good in time will continue. Such is the quality within Slot’s squad, the odds are that eventually it will improve for the team and club as a whole, even if recent arrivals still have to show the shirt is not too heavy for them.
But this was not the plan. Liverpool were meant to be striding powerfully forward from a position of strength, not drifting backwards in readiness for a fresh assault next season.
Tom Werner, the Liverpool chairman, watched the horror of the 3-0 loss to Forest unfold from the directors’ box, no doubt dispatching his private report of the latest abomination to his FSG colleagues.
The appeals for patience – and assurances the dip will not last – can extend for another week.
That cannot change the sobering reality that Liverpool’s owners must be watching the record signings with growing concern that they have put their hands in their pockets and emerged with pieces of fluff rather than gold coins.
