The difficult answer to Liverpool's shock Alexander Isak problem | OneFootball

There's a difficult answer to Liverpool's surprise Alexander Isak problem. Can they actually fix it?

Alexander Isak is a problem for Liverpool. No one saw that coming when they spent £130m on him to end their summer transfer window.

But the Swede has been thus far unable to find his place at the club. At first, that was down to a lack of fitness brought about by a lack of pre-season before moving clubs.

The awful leg injury then robbed Isak of months right as he was just finding his feet. His return to the side has been marked by a problem, though, and it’s largely the same problem he faced before the injury: involvement.

Liverpool just can’t get Isak involved in their attack. He had just three touches of the ball on his 12-minute return against Paris Saint-Germain and then followed that with 12 touches in 21 minutes against Fulham.

But that latter number is now a massive outlier. 45 minutes at home to PSG brought five (5) touches on Isak’s first start since the injury. There were then nine (9) touches against Everton in 72 minutes.

So that was four minutes per touch at PSG, 1.75 vs Fulham, nine at home to PSG, and eight against Everton. Those last two figures are shocking - eight and nine minutes to get involved and then you won’t see another touch for eight or nine more minutes.

Liverpool broke the British transfer record for this player. And to be clear - this isn’t Isak’s fault. It’s not like he’s deliberately shying from the ball, instead it’s a case of his teammates not getting it to him.

But again, that’s not their fault either. Liverpool are just too slow in getting forward and by the time they’re in positions where Isak could get the ball, he’s crowded.

That’s a result of two issues with the Reds: their playing style and their lack of pace. The first one is certainly subjective and largely down to how Arne Slot sees things but the latter is absolutely an answer to their Isak problem.

Introduce more speed into that attack and suddenly Liverpool get forward faster. Suddenly there’s more space for Isak to operate in and less attention on him as the Reds move forward.

This, after all, is the situation he was in at Newcastle United. Anthony Gordon and Jacob Murphy are quick players who can stretch play and operate on the counter - Liverpool don’t have that.

Fixing it isn’t easy, either, as it will naturally cost a lot of money. Someone like Yan Diomande, a definite fix, will cost close to €100m.

But it has to happen. Liverpool paid an incredible amount for a player and then put him in an environment that doesn’t work for him. They’ve now got to fix that if they’re to ever get a return on that investment.

Pace is that fix. And Liverpool simply have to get it right this summer.