What you aren’t seeing in Alexander Isak’s quest to get back to his best | OneFootball

Liverpool have had a glimpse of what Alexander Isak can do. They have seen it on the training pitch. They have seen it in first-team football, too. Though, almost 11 weeks into his Anfield career, such evidence still all came at their expense, and not to their benefit.

There was the Isak who scored on his Newcastle debut at Anfield, the one who delivered what proved the decisive goal in the Carabao Cup final to deny Arne Slot a first trophy as Liverpool manager, the Isak who got four goals in six games against them. Which is rather better than his current return of one in eight for them.

Slot has talked about signing Isak for the six-year duration of his contract. Perhaps worryingly, he has said it could take six months to see him at his best. Almost three have elapsed, interrupted by injury, and Isak still has a lone goal, against Southampton in the Carabao Cup.

His manager remains adamant that the wider world will see the Isak that prompted them to pay £125m; so far, he said, only Liverpool have seen that, in sessions where the Swede’s technique is an asset and his lack of sharpness no disadvantage.

“It will still take a bit of time but he will end up being the player he was at Newcastle if we get him fit,” Slot said. “Or how he was at [Real] Sociedad or all the other clubs he was at: he just needs to become fit. That is the challenge. It is underestimated so much that if you bring a player in on 1 September, the league [is] already three weeks in.” Or, indeed, if you bring in a player who missed pre-season because he went on strike, though Slot did not mention that part.

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Liverpool have seen the best of Isak – just not in their own colours (PA Wire)

Isak could make his first appearance at club level for a month when Nottingham Forest visit Anfield on Saturday, but there is a warning to be patient. It is safe to say he will not be playing 90 minutes against each of Forest, PSV Eindhoven and West Ham over the course of eight days. But there was also the admission from Slot that, in his bid to get Isak up to speed, some of his gametime may come at the expense of others who might be better suited to such matches, in terms of condition anyway. Which, logically, would mean Hugo Ekitike and Federico Chiesa may have some grounds for grievance if they are not on the pitch.

Slot has noted that, at top speed, Isak can sprint at over 30km/h; but rarely this season. “He didn’t do a lot of high-intensity runs,” he said. “I can see in training sessions, if he is fully rested, then you can see his quality. We play in short spaces, so the ball comes a lot to him. But 11 v 11 on a big pitch, there is a lot of running and not much touching the ball. He is an incredible player.”

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The Swede has shown off his ability in training, when his lack of match sharpness is no disadvantage (AFP/Getty)

The price tag dictates that he ought to be. Isak was the second-highest scorer in the Premier League last season, behind only his new teammate Mohamed Salah. Slot has called him one of the best strikers in the world. Not, though, on the form he has displayed in a brief Liverpool career that amounts to 132 minutes in the Champions League and 253 in the Premier League. Their attempts to get him fully fit have been ill-fated. Slot insisted Isak was not in the red zone when he was injured against Eintracht Frankfurt; however, if his selection there was an attempt to fast-track his comeback, it backfired.

He was limited to 28 minutes of football in the last international break. He sat out Sweden’s draw with Slovenia because he was a booking from a ban. Slot understood Graham Potter’s decision to omit him, but it did not help Liverpool.

Isak had been back in time to be an unused substitute against Manchester City; with Liverpool 3-0 down, there was a logic to leaving him on the bench. But Slot is still talking to Liverpool’s fitness staff to determine what to do with Isak. That outing against Southampton was notable not merely for the striker’s goal, but for what came next.

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Isak was an unused substitute against Manchester City before the international break (Getty)

“After he played 45 minutes against Southampton, we did some running,” said Slot. “People asked why did we do this, but it is to build him up. If he plays a game, he has to do more accels and decels. If he does some running, you can give him a bigger tank.

“This morning, I had a conversation with the performance staff: ‘What is the best way for him – not for Liverpool – to get him as fast as we can to that 100 per cent?’ I always have to find the balance between what is the best for him as an individual and for us as a team. I do know that a 100 per cent fit Alexander Isak is a big, big, big plus for this team. But for him to get there, he might need to have minutes where you could argue that another player might be further ahead of him in terms of match fitness.”