{"id":205064,"date":"2025-10-11T11:53:11","date_gmt":"2025-10-11T11:53:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/205064\/"},"modified":"2025-10-11T11:53:11","modified_gmt":"2025-10-11T11:53:11","slug":"alexander-isak-endures-sweden-horror-show-but-sends-liverpool-key-message","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/205064\/","title":{"rendered":"Alexander Isak Endures Sweden Horror Show\u2014But Sends Liverpool Key Message"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"tagStyle_1mfvp8o-o_O-style_mxvz7o-o_O-style_12bse5w-o_O-style_6s3kpz\" data-mm-id=\"_4nvsa72i2\">Liverpool striker Alexander Isak finally played his first full 90 minutes of the season on Friday, but was booed off with the rest of his Sweden teammates after a nightmare performance saw him touch the ball just 31 times in a 2\u20130 defeat to Switzerland.<\/p>\n<p class=\"tagStyle_1mfvp8o-o_O-style_mxvz7o-o_O-style_12bse5w-o_O-style_6s3kpz\" data-mm-id=\"_zzr23kygj\">The \u00a3125 million ($166.7 million) summer <a class=\"tagStyle_1mfvp8o-o_O-style_aoxits\" href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/soccer\/transfers\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">signing<\/a> has been eased into action this campaign after missing pre-season with <a class=\"tagStyle_1mfvp8o-o_O-style_aoxits\" href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/soccer\/team\/newcastle-united\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Newcastle United<\/a> as part of his push to seal a switch to Anfield.<\/p>\n<p class=\"tagStyle_1mfvp8o-o_O-style_mxvz7o-o_O-style_12bse5w-o_O-style_6s3kpz\" data-mm-id=\"_6xq9toadb\">Isak has made six appearances for <a class=\"tagStyle_1mfvp8o-o_O-style_aoxits\" href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/soccer\/team\/liverpool\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Liverpool<\/a> to date but has played just over 300 minutes in total, with manager Arne Slot warning Reds fans they would have to be patient while he worked his way back to full fitness.<\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">FREE NEWSLETTER. New SI FC Newsletter Global Embed. Sign Up to Get Informed With SI FC. dark<\/p>\n<p class=\"tagStyle_1mfvp8o-o_O-style_mxvz7o-o_O-style_12bse5w-o_O-style_6s3kpz\" data-mm-id=\"_rkjn4plk7\">Sweden manager Jon Dahl Tomasson deemed Isak to be good to go for the start of his country\u2019s latest World Cup qualifier, but things did not go at all plan as Switzerland cruised to victory thanks to goals from Granit Xhaka, from the penalty spot, and teenager Johan Manzambi.<\/p>\n<p class=\"tagStyle_1mfvp8o-o_O-style_mxvz7o-o_O-style_12bse5w-o_O-style_6s3kpz\" data-mm-id=\"_7laxe3cvj\">During his 90 minutes on the pitch, Isak managed just one shot\u2014off target\u2014as Sweden sank to the bottom of their <a class=\"tagStyle_1mfvp8o-o_O-style_aoxits\" href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/soccer\/world-cup\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">World Cup<\/a> qualification group with just one point from their first three games. His total of 31 touches was the lowest of any outfield player to complete the game.<\/p>\n<p class=\"tagStyle_1mfvp8o-o_O-style_mxvz7o-o_O-style_12bse5w-o_O-style_6s3kpz\" data-mm-id=\"_r77pdsa81\">Isak was by no means the only target of Sweden\u2019s frustrations. Arsenal striker Viktor Gy\u00f6keres, who lined up alongside him for the full 90, only had two off-target efforts of his own and narrowly bettered Isak\u2019s touch tally with 33.<\/p>\n<p><img class=\"base_1emrqjj-o_O-initial_fzbddc-o_O-style_1a1csmw\" alt=\"Alexander Isak\" title=\"Alexander Isak\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Isak\u2019s sole Liverpool goal came in the Carabao Cup. \/ James Gill &#8211; Danehouse\/Getty Images<\/p>\n<p class=\"tagStyle_1mfvp8o-o_O-style_mxvz7o-o_O-style_12bse5w-o_O-style_6s3kpz\" data-mm-id=\"_uhbxs9wai\">Isak\u2019s challenge has been getting up to the physical standard required to play a full 90 minutes. After a less than ideal pre-season, his Liverpool minutes have come in fits and spurts, meaning he\u2019s not really been able to find any kind of rhythm.<\/p>\n<p class=\"tagStyle_1mfvp8o-o_O-style_mxvz7o-o_O-style_12bse5w-o_O-style_6s3kpz\" data-mm-id=\"_6l7rqjj3g\">Ahead of Sweden\u2019s defeat, Isak was put forward for media duties and did offer an encouraging message for Slot and for Liverpool as a whole. <\/p>\n<p class=\"tagStyle_1mfvp8o-o_O-style_mxvz7o-o_O-style_12bse5w-o_O-style_6s3kpz\" data-mm-id=\"_7fl9aon8j\">\u201cI think I\u2019m ready,\u201d he vowed. \u201cWe\u2019ll take it one game at a time. I am ready to play 90 minutes, if necessary.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"tagStyle_1mfvp8o-o_O-style_mxvz7o-o_O-style_12bse5w-o_O-style_6s3kpz\" data-mm-id=\"_qwor3551w\">The bad news for Liverpool is that with the pressure on Sweden boss Tomasson building, Isak could be required to go again for the full 90 minutes in Monday\u2019s meeting with Kosovo. That would limit the recovery time of the 26-year-old, who Liverpool fans would much rather see go the full distance against bitter rivals <a class=\"tagStyle_1mfvp8o-o_O-style_aoxits\" href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/soccer\/team\/manchester-united\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Manchester United<\/a> when the <a class=\"tagStyle_1mfvp8o-o_O-style_aoxits\" href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/soccer\/premier-league\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Premier League<\/a> returns on Sunday Oct. 19.<\/p>\n<p>READ THE LATEST LIVERPOOL NEWS, TRANSFER RUMOURS AND MORE<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Liverpool striker Alexander Isak finally played his first full 90 minutes of the season on Friday, but was&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":205065,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[440],"tags":[49,48,561,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-205064","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-soccer","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-soccer","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205064","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=205064"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205064\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/205065"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=205064"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=205064"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=205064"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}