Slot insists Isak doing what he did at Newcastle – but he’s missing Reds’ right men

Newcastle but not as much I think. I think this season the league has changed, we see so many more low blocks than I saw last season. But I see this not only against us, I see this in many games. “It makes it harder for him compared to his time at Newcastle but I think it is also him adjusting to his team-mates and his team-mates adjusting to him. But it is obvious and clear that we have not the profile of Jacob Murphy for example available at this moment at this time. I think the best way to judge that is if he scores five or six goals in three or four games. But I don’t think you can compare the two of them (Isak and Haaland) in terms of presence. One is, I don’t know how high and big and Alex is slimmer. But the Alexander Isak who scored so many goals for Newcastle and was then standing there when we played the League Cup final and I thought: ‘I would love to have him in my team’ - he has presence.

- By PAUL GORST

WHEN it was put to Arne Slot that Alexander Isak is having so few touches while leading the Liverpool line yesterday, the head coach had a statistic up his sleeve that was enough to suggest the £125million striker’s contributions had been sufficiently analysed at the AXA Training.

Isak, in his last two Anfield starts in the Premier League, has had less than 30 touches of the ball. He is averaging 14 per game and while his goal at West Ham United last week was expertly taken, Wednesday night’s 1-1 draw with Sunderland once more saw the Sweden international on the periphery, taken off in the second period with Slot’s side needing a goal.

The Reds boss informed the press yesterday morning that his new No.9 was only averaging 22 touches per game at his previous club, presenting the idea that even when Isak was plundering 23 goals for Newcastle United, he was often being used selectively in the build up.