Arne Slot knows the one BIG Alexander Isak issue he needs to solve | OneFootball

Liverpool suffered a second successive defeat on Tuesday night - losing out to Galatasaray in the Champions League.

The away game in Istanbul was always likely to be a challenging fixture and the Reds were defeated courtesy of a controversial penalty.

Dominik Szoboszlai was deemed to have fouled Baris Alper Yilmaz inside the box and Victor Osimhen made no mistake from the spot. Liverpool rallied but were unable to find an equaliser. Ibrahima Konate had a penalty claim of his own overturned following consultation with VAR.

Arne Slot’s side were coming off the back of a loss to Crystal Palace in the Premier League over the weekend - when Eddie Nketiah struck late to deny the champions a share of the points.

Isak struggling for involvement

It doesn’t promise to get any easier either - with a trip to Stamford Bridge to face Chelsea on the horizon at the weekend.

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Slot has got plenty of issues to solve - not least now due to injuries as Alisson Becker and Hugo Ekitike both went off with knocks against the Turkish champions.

Giorgi Mamardashvili is likely to start a top-flight game for the first time at the weekend while Ekitike’s absence will surely mean another start for Alexander Isak.

The 25-year-old is already up and running in front of goal - netting in last week’s EFL Cup victory against Southampton. But in truth Liverpool are stil waiting for his form to return following a £125m move from Newcastle over the summer.

Liverpool need MORE from Isak

It’s no secret that Isak had no preseason and was severely short of match practice when he moved to Anfield on transfer deadline day.

With Ekitike injured, the Merseysiders need their Swedish superstar to step up in what’s likely to be his third start of the season. And Slot will be hoping to have the most expensive player in British football history a lot more involved than he was on Tuesday night.

Encouragingly, Isak hit the target with his very first touch at RAMS Park - but there was little to cheer thereafter.

© Sofascore - Alexander Isak heatmap Liverpool

Isak touched the ball only four times

In fact, Isak only managed FOUR touches of the ball on the night in more than half an hour’s worth of action. Liverpool’s attack is malfunctioning right now - there’s no getting away from that.

But the quality in the individual players - from Isak to Florian Wirtz and Mo Salah for example - is self-evident. Once Slot sorts out his forward players it’ll be no surprise to see the Reds knock several goals past opponents once again.

First things first however and Liverpool have got to figure out a way to have Isak more involved in the game. That begins on Saturday against Chelsea.