20 hours ago
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Alexander Isak has been labelled "non-existent" during Liverpool's disappointing loss to Nottingham Forest in Premier League action on Saturday afternoon.
The champion is experiencing a crisis, with this Anfield defeat marking its eighth of the campaign already, following an opening run of seven consecutive victories across all competitions.
Having suffered a 3-0 reverse to Manchester City prior to the international break, Liverpool has now been beaten by an identical scoreline, with Morgan Gibbs-White, Nicola Savona and Murillo all finding the net for the visitors.
The latter broke the deadlock in contentious circumstances as Dan Ndoye was in an offside position when his powerful effort beat Alisson, though officials judged he had not interfered with the Liverpool goalkeeper. Igor Jesus believed he had doubled the advantage before the break, but that effort was ruled out for handball.
Sean Dyche's team did establish a two-goal cushion shortly after the restart when Savona demonstrated excellent composure with a first-time finish, before Gibbs-White completed the scoring in the closing stages. Liverpool controlled possession and registered more attempts on goal, but appeared unable to discover any rhythm in either penalty area.
The choice to start Isak following his return from injury rather than Hugo Ekitike was somewhat unexpected, and Slot evidently recognized his error with two rapid substitutions. In the 55th minute, Ekitike came on for Ibrahima Konate, prompting Ryan Gravenberch to move into the back four, reports the Liverpool Echo.
Later, Isak was substituted for Federico Chiesa, with ex-Premier League defender Michael Dawson delivering a harsh assessment of his performance.
On Sky Sports, he commented, "[Isak was] non-existent in this game. Got no service. Had one opportunity that he just scuffed."
Since joining from Newcastle United in a record-breaking deal on transfer deadline day, the Swedish striker has only found the net once. His playing time has been limited due to fitness issues and injury, but Slot has clarified why he is being selected over other players.
"Alex, 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, or how he was at Sociedad or all the other clubs he was at," Slot explained to reporters.
"He just needs to become fit. That is the challenge and it is underestimated so much if you bring a player in on September 1, when the league is already three weeks in.
"I do know that a 100 percent 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.
"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%?'.
"I always have to find the balance between what is the best for him as an individual and for us as a team."
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