Alexander Isak admitted that the uneasy wait for his first Premier League goal in a Liverpool shirt took longer than he had expected.
Much about Isak’s embryonic career on Merseyside has been delayed. The process of extricating the Swedish forward from Newcastle United this summer was so protracted Liverpool actually bought an entirely different centre forward first—who scored his maiden Premier League goal 37 minutes into the new season.
Isak’s debut was pushed back as Arne Slot tried to rebuild his fitness after a summer spent on strike, yet he still sustained a muscular injury in October.
Slot was getting ready to take Isak off against West Ham United this weekend while the game was still goalless, prolonging that wait for his maiden league goal for at least another few days. And then it happened.
No Salah, no problem.
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Alexander Isak steps up when Liverpool needed him most. pic.twitter.com/zEp2UKMRYj
“I’ve been waiting for it and chasing it,” a visibly relieved Isak told BBC’s Match of the Day after punching a crisp, side-footed finish into the bottom corner of Alphonse Areola’s well-guarded net. “Sometimes it takes longer than you expect but happy to score a goal and help towards the win today.”
That wait had amounted to six games, 71 days and 378 minutes of Premier League football. Isak’s drought hadn’t been a question of missed chances but rather no chances to miss. The 26-year-old registered more shots on target (two) during his 67 minutes on the pitch at London Stadium this weekend than he had mustered across the rest of the season combined (one).
“It’s never easy,” Isak said of his goal drought, “as a striker you need momentum. Sometimes you go through these patches but hopefully this will be helpful towards building good form. We defended really well and scored twice so happy days.”
Arne Slot Hails Significant Moment for Isak
The overriding emotion for Slot after Liverpool’s 2–0 victory over West Ham was “relief.”
Relief that the club’s worst run of form since 1953 was punctured with a win, relief that his decision to drop Mohamed Salah was rewarded with the most competent defensive display of the season and relief that the most expensive player in Premier League history had finally scored a goal in the competition.
Slot was asked if this felt like a “significant moment” for Isak. “Yep, I think it does,” he told Sky Sports. “He is a top striker. This finish was very good. I kept him in just long enough for him to get a goal for the team and himself.”
“It’s very important for us as a team that we went 1–0 up, but I think it was also important for him because I think it was his third chance, fourth of this game, and I don’t think there was much more than 10 minutes in him to go,” Slot continued in his postmatch press conference. “So to score just before you come off was important for us but also for him.”
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Alexander Isak Makes Telling Admission After First Premier League Goal for Liverpool.
