'Dissatisfied' - Liverpool striker Alexander Isak fumes over 'crisis situation'

Liverpool striker Alexander Isak didn't hold back with his assessment of Sweden's struggles after Monday's defeat by Kosovo in World Cup qualifying.

The loss leaves Sweden on one point after four games, and on the brink of missing out on next summer's tournament in North America. After qualifying for four World Cups out of a possible five between 1990 and 2006, failure to make it into the 2026 World Cup will signal a fourth failure to qualify in five attempts for Sweden, after also missing out in 2010, 2014, and 2022.

"It's a bit of a crisis situation and that's clear," Isak said of Sweden's current qualifying campaign. "I don't know what we're going to do. But it's all too bad."

The Reds' record signing was at a loss to explain Sweden's shocking qualifying campaign.

Sweden must now win its final two qualifiers against Switzerland and Slovenia in November and hope Kosovo loses its qualifiers against the same opponent to ensure it has any chance of making it to the tournament.

"I don't know [why the team isn't doing well]," he added. "It's a combination of everything. We're playing too badly.

"The way we're playing doesn't work. We're doing it too badly individually too. So it's a combination of everything really.

"There has been a negative development [in the way that the team plays], at least during the spring and since the World Cup qualifiers began. There has been no progress and it's disappointing."

Isak refused to get drawn into talk about Sweden manager Jon Dahl Tomasson's future, and said that everyone involved in the national team set-up is responsible for its struggles.

"We players are so f------ dissatisfied," he said. "And as I've said before, we take a lot of responsibility ourselves.

"We look at ourselves in the mirror. And no one is approved. Not us players, not us as a team. And that of course includes the coach and everything around, but those questions [about calls for Tomasson to be fired], we don't get involved in them."

Sweden's players were booed by their own supporters after the final whistle in Gothenburg, and Isak admitted he fully understood the reaction of the fans.

"It's not fun," he said. "It's not fun to be booed.

"At the same time, you can't demand much more. We have underperformed enormously. It's sad that we are in this situation."

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