{"id":187209,"date":"2025-09-28T09:02:09","date_gmt":"2025-09-28T09:02:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/187209\/"},"modified":"2025-09-28T09:02:09","modified_gmt":"2025-09-28T09:02:09","slug":"arne-slot-shares-very-honest-alexander-isak-verdict-and-explains-florian-wirtz-liverpool-decision","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/187209\/","title":{"rendered":"Arne Slot shares ‘very honest’ Alexander Isak verdict and explains Florian Wirtz Liverpool decision"},"content":{"rendered":"

Arne Slot has shared his opinion on Alexander Isak’s full Premier League debut for Liverpool and his decision to start Florian Wirtz over Cody Gakpo in the 2-1 defeat at Crystal Palace\"LONDON,Alexander Isak applauds the Liverpool fans following the Premier League defeat at Crystal Palace(Image: Liverpool FC\/Liverpool FC via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Arne Slot says he was pleased with Alexander Isak’s performance on his first Premier League<\/a> start for Liverpool as they lost 2-1 to Crystal Palace on Saturday. The Swede played 84 minutes in total before being withdrawn for teenager Rio Ngumoha on what was his first top-flight start since May.<\/p>\n

It was a sizable step forward for a \u00a3125m striker who had no pre-season due to the acrimonious nature of his transfer from Newcastle on deadline day.<\/p>\n

After Ismaila Sarr had given the hosts an early lead, Federico Chiesa<\/a> struck a late leveller in south London before Eddie Nketiah netted the winner in the 97th minute to inflict a first defeat on the Reds this season.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: ‘One of our players’ – Arne Slot makes brutally honest Liverpool admission after Crystal Palace loss<\/a>\"\"\/<\/p>\n

OPINION<\/p>\n

\"AuthorIan Doyle<\/p>\n

Explaining the decision to keep Isak<\/a> on for nearly the entirety of the game, Slot<\/a> said: \u201cIsak playing 84 minutes had a lot to do with the low intensity of the game.<\/p>\n

“If you face a low block, 10 players in and around their own 18-yard box and when they have to do a build-up they take a while with hardly any intensity.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn a more open game where you have to run a lot as a nine, then you might not play him for 84, but this was a game in which it was a low block with some bursts of counter-attacks.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was close to a goal, very honest to stay on his feet, got a little bit of a shirt pull and that\u2019s why he was unbalanced when he shot.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo that was maybe just enough, smart little push to get him unbalanced.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe didn\u2019t score but it was quite a good performance.”<\/p>\n

Slot also detailed the thinking behind the call to start Florian Wirtz<\/a> over Cody Gakpo<\/a> in the front three.<\/p>\n

The Germany international was encouraged to occupy more central areas than his Netherlands international colleague would.<\/p>\n

And Liverpool<\/a> boss Slot added: \u201cWe wanted to overload the midfield with Wirtz in the first half which is why we didn\u2019t start with Cody.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut if you\u2019re 1-0 down and need a goal you prefer to have width both sides and that\u2019s why we brought on Cody.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s why we brought on more attacking players and took a risk.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe way we played first half wasn\u2019t what I was hoping for before the game.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Arne Slot has shared his opinion on Alexander Isak’s full Premier League debut for Liverpool and his decision…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":187210,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[69],"tags":[18765,16093,109733,41819,17224,1711,403,99],"class_list":["post-187209","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-soccer","tag-alexander-isak","tag-arne-slot","tag-barclays-premier-league","tag-crystal-palace-fc","tag-florian-wirtz","tag-liverpool-fc","tag-soccer","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187209","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=187209"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187209\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/187210"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=187209"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=187209"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=187209"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}