With Liverpool’s record signing yet to find his form or convince with the eye-test, what do Alexander Isak’s underlying numbers reveal?…
WHEN Alexander Isak signed for Liverpool, one of the biggest reliefs I had was that he hadn’t gone to Arsenal.
For a couple of years, I’d held the opinion that a player of his calibre would have catapulted Mikel Arteta’s squad into the complete package.
Instead, it became apparent that as soon as the striker was absent for Newcastle United’s first pre-season fixture last summer, a move to Liverpool was on the cards.
Not even four months in, fans and pundits of all varieties are queuing up to label him a flop.
Honorable mentions of any underperforming, high-profile player results in Isak’s name being tossed into the conversation with barbed whataboutery.
The start of Isak’s life at Anfield has undoubtedly been underwhelming. He has two goals to his name and has registered only 12 shots with three on target in all competitions.
The eye test isn’t much better. With every laboured sprint there’s a wincing fear of injury or him being left crouched over with hands on his knees, otherwise known as the ‘Joe Cole’.
We simply haven’t seen enough of what Isak is good at. The player who earned the reputation of the Premier League’s top forward last season with 23 goals was a menace for making runs in behind, operating with intelligence in wide areas and being deadly in front of goal.
The revisionism about Liverpool’s summer business now has some questioning why Isak and others were bought. Why Liverpool never kept the squad together that had just won the Premier League.
Regardless of your view on how much business was done, what’s undeniable is how un-Liverpool it was.
It was so out of character for it not to be carefully constructed. Everything felt that Liverpool had engineered to a point of summer 2025 being monumental, regardless of what had happened the previous season.
Which leaves you wondering what’s missing for the number nine, and when it will all click into place.
Let’s look at some numbers. Liverpool are averaging 15.81 shots per game in the league, down slightly on last season’s 16.92.
Expected goals is down to 1.48 per 90 from 1.76 in 2024-25 and xG per shot is also slightly down 0.09 from 0.10.
In terms of players, Darwin Nunez averaged 2.32 shots per 90 in the league last season. His xG was 0.34 and he averaged 6.94 touches in the opposition box every game.
Luis Diaz, who also played at ‘9’, averaged 2.45 shots per game with an xG of 0.39 and 6.88 touches in the opposition box.
Isak’s final season at Newcastle saw him average 2.91 league shots, with an xG of 0.45 and 7.49 touches in the opposition box per game.
This season, his xG is at 0.23, he’s averaging 2.33 shots and only 4.83 opposition penalty area touches.
It’s worth noting that Liverpool under Slot aren’t built in a way for the central striker to be perennially involved. His job is to get in behind and stretch defensive lines. And most importantly to gobble up the chances when they arrive.
As mentioned above, Liverpool don’t have a problem creating chances – even in this fever dream of a season.
So, what’s wrong? We’re back to everything looking laboured. When Liverpool broke twice against Brighton in the final stages with Federico Chiesa and Mohamed Salah, Isak was nowhere to be found despite being on the pitch.
When balls flash across the goal, he’s usually on the penalty spot. This is mostly about getting to understand his and teammates’ games better, but that isn’t the only form of adaptation needed.
Isak simply has to stay fit now. He is pressing and is putting in shifts, I don’t subscribe to the argument that he’s not running. His pressures and pressure regains have been up on the league average the last two seasons.
But a further halting of momentum and lack of time on the pitch will only delay his sharpness and ability to build that on-pitch chemistry with teammates. It will delay what I believe is an inevitable shift in his goals tally.
I still think we’re talking about one of the best centre-forwards in Europe.
One turbulent, football free summer doesn’t change that.
