Isakly what we need
- Thread starter Hansern
- Start date
- Latest activity Latest activity:
our wide forwards are set up to finish, not provide. Also, the lacking use of full backs amplify this. We are not setting up a no. P with crosses and cut backs. Gak and salah want to shoot.
Invert the attacker triangle please. Firm has left the building, so has Trent who could find a striker early.
Poor the Isak
Invert the attacker triangle please. Firm has left the building, so has Trent who could find a striker early.
Poor the Isak
I don't have the slightest clue who the fuck this cunt is but he sounds more like a manager than Snot could ever wish for. Summerton in!
He has bad initials.
And if we leave on attacker forward almost always the opposition will leave two defenders back, never one v one.
Very similar to how we misused Nunez TBH. He thrived on balls into the 6 yd box as his stats (over 50% scored within the 6yd box) in Portugal indicated.
This lad was at best a £75m striker…..he really is not anything special. He never was. Andy Cole went for mega bucks in the 90’s - he banged loads of goals in, but even he had more about himself in terms of personality and individuality on the ball. He is a vanity signing. Ferguson still tried to replace Cole with Shearer a year or two later as he understood to be the best, you needed more certainty with your number 9.
Not sure we are miss using him, it’s a bit if an easy excuse for not playing well and doing his bit. Nunez is a not a good example, same Nunez who used to miss a load of chances and now struggling in a poor Saudi league. Maybe this year, we missed out on signing players of right mentality, can’t help feel data science without human element has been missing since our engimatic German legt.
"The drop in Isak's passing meters—from 186m per 90 at Newcastle to 84m at Liverpool—suggests a shift in his role. At Newcastle, he likely contributed more to build-up with progressive passes. Liverpool's tactics may emphasize his finishing over distribution, or he's adapting to a new system."
View: https://x.com/SimonBrundish/status/1996588591359619220
Team mates not doing him favours at 1:03, 1:25, 1:40
Positive at 1:56
View: https://x.com/margielatabiz/status/1996247765102346666
"Isak at Newcastle had players like Murphy, looking to get balls into him as quickly as possible"
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3USh0nKR38
View: https://x.com/SimonBrundish/status/1996588591359619220
Team mates not doing him favours at 1:03, 1:25, 1:40
Positive at 1:56
View: https://x.com/margielatabiz/status/1996247765102346666
"Isak at Newcastle had players like Murphy, looking to get balls into him as quickly as possible"
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3USh0nKR38
I should hope he is better than this. FFS.
I don’t have to watch the videos to know he worked in more open spaces playing for Newcastle than playing for us. I also know the usual wide players won’t be looking for him in the box to get off those first time finishes we saw against West Ham. I would like to see more energy and movement from him but the rest of the useless cunts aren’t doing that so it’s not just on him.
He is. But he's playing alongside black holes like Gakpo and Salah.
View: https://x.com/TeleFootball/status/1996937282201219567
When Liverpool paired Alexander Isak and Florian Wirtz last summer, there were hopes a partnership as legendary as John Aldridge and Peter Beardsley would instantly form.
The reference carried weight, as a deadly penalty-box predator was joined by an imaginative No 7. Throw a British record-breaking transfer fee to Newcastle United into the mix – Beardsley’s £1.9m was more than anyone in England had spent for a player before July 1987 – and the redesign of Liverpool’s strikeforce had a historic precedent.
Those who recall how Kenny Dalglish rejigged his line-up with the proceeds of Ian Rush’s sale to Juventus will be quick to point out there were other significant pieces of the jigsaw, enabling Aldridge to combine with one of the greatest wingers of all time, John Barnes, and the most underrated attacking midfielder of his generation, a player who intuitively knew Aldridge’s strengths from their time at Oxford United, Ray Houghton.
How Isak must wish similar ammunition was coming his way in his first few months on Merseyside. As a critical eye is cast upon the £125m striker’s early Liverpool appearances, it is not just the limited time on the pitch with Wirtz which has reduced his goalscoring opportunities. A No 9 who has previously thrived on penetrating crosses, defence-splitting passes and counter-attacks is adjusting to a new style, and a world in which low-block defences raise questions as to how and when he will flourish.
It’s a conundrum Arne Slot is aware he must fix. Not unlike Isak’s predecessor in the No 9 jersey, Darwin Nunez, each time he struggles a debate rages as to whether the problem is his personal performance and overall workrate, or the set-up of a team unsuited to his assets. The fair conclusion is it’s a bit of both.
Isak touched the ball just 14 times in 86 minutes against Sunderland in midweek, a worrying lack of involvement which has been typical of a poor start to his Liverpool career.
Asked about this on Friday, Slot said he was not overly concerned about how many times Isak is in possession. He argued with some justification that Erling Haaland has become renowned for having little involvement outside of the penalty box while being a killer in it.
“Do you know how many times he [Isak] touched the ball at Newcastle on average?” asked Slot. “Twenty-two. In this league, strikers don’t touch the ball that much but a few times they do touch it, it’s quite nice they finish it off.
“I have no clue what the stats of Haaland are. He doesn’t touch it 100 times a game, but he does score a lot. It is more important that they touch the ball at the right times than to touch it so many times.
“We have to make sure that’s the complete difference between Haaland and Alex; Haaland touches it much more where it matters and that’s where we must improve. It is clear and obvious.”
In fact, Isak did receive the ball considerably more for Newcastle, certainly last season, where the figure was nearer to 37 per 90 minutes. At St James’ Park, Eddie Howe built a system which evidently suited the Swede, his wingers Jacob Murphy and Anthony Gordon under orders to feed their No 9 quickly and often. In mitigation, Liverpool are more accustomed to playing against sides with 10 men behind the ball, the onus on Isak and other attackers to find space in a more congested final third.
In recent games, Slot admits he has also favoured defensive solidity over the more gung-ho formation which led to nine defeats in 12 games prior to last weekend’s win at West Ham United.
Liverpool have been duller to watch in the past two matches, but for Slot it was a necessary first building block towards more consistent results. That means Isak has fed on scraps, although ironically he struck his first league goal against the Hammers.
“He is not the only No 9 who suffers in some games from not getting many chances,” said Slot.
“I watched the second half of Leeds United against Manchester City, and I watched the whole game of Leeds against Chelsea. At this level, it’s not like the No 9 is involved in eight, nine, 10 chances every single half. But it is obvious and clear that we want to bring Alex into more threatening situations.
“Before we went to only one goal conceded in two games, we had a lot of chances. As a result, because we are a little bit more compact and not taking as many risks, we have not been able to create as many chances as all of the games before. It is definitely one of the things on my list of things to improve, getting our No 9 more involved in the game and more involved in the final third.”
