Arne Slot admits Liverpool have to get Alexander Isak more involved in games in order to help their record signing fulfil his potential.
The £125million striker scored his first Premier League goal for the club in last weekend’s win at West Ham United, but struggled to make an impression in the midweek 1-1 draw with Sunderland.
Having had just 13 touches in the space of 68 minutes at the London Stadium, the Sweden international only had 14 across 86 minutes at Anfield before being replaced by Federico Chiesa.
“Alex is not the only No 9 who suffers in some games from not getting many chances,” Slot said.
“At this level, it’s not like the No 9 is involved in eight, nine, 10 chances every single half. But it is obvious and clear that we want to bring him into more threatening situations.
“Before we went to only one goal conceded in two games, we had a lot of chances. As a result, because we are a little bit more compact and not taking as many risks, we have not been able to create as many chances as all of the games before. It is definitely one of the things on my list of things to improve – getting our No 9 more involved in the game and more involved in the final third.”
Isak has had a difficult start to his Liverpool career since arriving from Newcastle United. He needed time to build up his fitness after going on strike to force through the move to Anfield and then suffered a groin injury which meant he didn’t feature for a month.
“Do you know how many times he touched the ball at Newcastle on average? 22,” Slot added.
“In this league, strikers don’t touch the ball that much but a few times they do touch it, it’s quite nice when they finish it off. I have no clue what the stats of (Erling) Haaland are but I wouldn’t be surprised if he doesn’t touch it 100 times a game, but he does score a lot.
“It is more important that they touch the ball in the right times than to touch is so many times. Haaland touches it much more where it matters and that’s where we can improve.”
Liverpool find themselves in ninth place ahead of Saturday’s trip to Leeds United with Slot saying their “first aim” is to climb back into the Champions League places. They’re currently two points behind fourth placed Chelsea.
Conor Bradley is back in contention after recovering from the hamstring injury which ruled him out of the past four matches.
“I expect him to train today and then be available to be in the squad tomorrow,” Slot added.
“Joe Gomez got a knock in the West Ham game but was still able to start against Sunderland. He couldn’t make the full 90 minutes but I think he will be able to train again today.”
Asked if Chiesa had staked a strong claim to start games with his contributions off the bench, Slot said: “Every player has a possibility to start, but we have many options to start in his position.
“He is indeed having his impact coming off the bench. Normally you bring a striker in to score a goal, but he in this situation (against Sunderland) he kept on running in a moment where a player could also feel ‘hmm, I don’t think I can do a lot anymore’. It tells you also the mentality he has not to concede, and that’s a good thing because that’s what not only defenders should have, that’s also what attackers should have.”
