Alexander Isak Faces Pressure at Liverpool After Newcastle Match
Alexander Isak has reached the stage where the sympathy starts to fade and the questions start to sting. That is the going rate for a £125m striker. At Liverpool, it cuts even deeper. Centre-forwards are judged on goals, not explanations.
So when he walked back out at St James’ Park in a red shirt, the script wrote itself. The jeers, the needle, the sense of a test he simply had to pass. He didn’t.
Owen’s verdict cuts through the noise
On talkSPORT, Michael Owen did not bother with soft landings.
"I know how hard it is to get back and you do need time. He has been given plenty of time – he finished the season in the team, then went to the World Cup and has had a pre-season.
"Now he is starting to run out of excuses. We need to see the real Isak. We saw how good he can be at Newcastle, but we haven't seen it in a red shirt yet. Questions will come now. At the start of the season, there are expectations, and Liverpool need him. [Mo] Salah has gone, [Hugo] Ekitike is out, and he needs to deliver. Against Newcastle, he was a yard off it, and that is worrying. He is the big-money signing, and I can't say he played well because he didn't."
Blunt, yes. But this is the level. No one at the top waits forever.
Isak’s first season at Anfield always carried a built-in caveat. A broken leg that wipes out four months wrecks everything – touch, timing, confidence. The mitigation was real and reasonable. Yet there comes a point when context stops acting as a shield and starts sounding like a crutch. Liverpool look to be at that point now.
Return to St James’ Park exposes familiar flaw
The occasion in Newcastle was always going to be emotionally loaded. The reception was hostile, the narrative obvious. Strip all that away and the performance still disappoints.
Isak lasted the full 90 minutes but never really got hold of the game. There were spells when Liverpool’s supply line to him was thin and predictable, and that has to be acknowledged. A striker cannot score from chances that never arrive.
But elite No 9s do more than wait for service. They bend games to their will. They pin centre-backs, stretch back lines, create panic, and then punish the one half-chance that falls their way.
Isak did not do enough of that. He forced a couple of efforts on target and held his own physically in duels, yet the overall impression was of a player operating a fraction off the tempo required. His passing was loose, his combinations clunky, his edge dulled. At no stage did he feel like the constant threat Liverpool need leading their line.
Liverpool can’t live on excuses
This is not just about one display. It is about where Liverpool are as a squad.
Hugo Ekitike is out until the end of 2026. Mohamed Salah has gone. Between them, that is a huge hole in goals, fear factor and reliability. Under Andoni Iraola, the structure will demand relentless running and direct, vertical attacks, but shape alone does not win you games. Finishers do.
Isak’s numbers at Newcastle – 62 goals in 109 games – leave no doubt about his ceiling. The talent is not in question. The issue is timing. When will Liverpool see that level regularly, in their colours, in their system?
He is 26. This is not a youngster feeling his way into the division. Liverpool did not drop £125m on a long-term project. They paid for a ready-made match-winner. At some point, the price tag becomes part of the judgement, not because of the headline, but because it represents the responsibility he now carries.
Nottingham Forest becomes an early-season marker
That is why Nottingham Forest at Anfield suddenly feels bigger than it should for an early-season fixture. When a marquee signing underperforms in a high-profile game, the debate accelerates. Every touch, every run, every miss is magnified.
For Isak, the route out is brutally simple. Move with more purpose. Link play quicker. Attack the box with aggression. Take the one chance when it comes. Strikers change narratives with a single swing of the boot.
Until that moment arrives, the noise Owen has given voice to will only grow.
Perspective and pressure, side by side
From a Liverpool perspective, this is a balancing act. Honesty and perspective have to live together.
Isak was poor at Newcastle. There is no sense in pretending otherwise. He looked a step off the pace and never really stretched defenders who know exactly how dangerous he can be. For a forward of his quality, that level cannot become a habit.
But the reaction can run away with itself. Liverpool did not exactly pepper the box with clear chances for him. When an attack lacks rhythm, the centre-forward usually takes the first hit. Supporters will forgive a lot if they see relentless movement, visible work rate and conviction. Those things still matter on Merseyside.
Timing, though, is everything. With Ekitike unavailable and Salah gone, there is no luxury of a gentle integration. Iraola needs his main striker to become the reference point of the attack now – pressing hard, running hard, finishing cleanly.
If Isak scores against Nottingham Forest, the temperature drops in an instant and the conversation shifts. That is how it works at a club of this size: one goal, and the storm changes direction. The question is how long Liverpool are willing to wait for that moment.
