Alexander Isak’s revealing Iraola comments say a lot about Liverpool under Arne Slot

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Alexander Isak has left no room for doubt over which style of football he prefers playing under between Andoni Iraola and the Basque’s Liverpool predecessor, Arne Slot.The Sweden international outright told BBC Sport that he believed the current head coach’s football will benefit both himself and the team.The former Newcastle United hitman has already matched his tally of three goals in the Premier League last term, registering just as many efforts in less than half the minutes amassed.Andoni Iraola is helping get the best out of Alexander Isak(Photo by Matt McNulty/Getty Images)It feels a little harsh to suggest that Slot’s brand of football was harmful to Isak’s productivity.For starters, it’s not like the Dutchman was opposed to rapid wingers who could play a central role in his attacking setup. And the fact of the matter is that the early signs more than indicate that we’re going to see the best of our record striker signing this season in a system that’s built to facilitate the central striker.More to the point, a system that’s built, in Isak’s words, to help the team full stop: “He asks me to be part of the defending but to defend in positions where, when we win the ball, we can counter quickly and get the ball forward to the offensive line.“He said ‘score goals’, but he wants me to defend.

It’s not just about getting the ball to me, it’s about getting the ball forward and to all of the offensive players quickly.“I think that will benefit the team. I think if we can do that then we should score more goals.”And when all’s said and done, we can all appreciate that Iraola’s style of play is much more befitting of what the fans expect of a Liverpool side on the pitch.We want to defend from the front, we want to win the ball back as high up the pitch as possible, we want to go as vertically as quickly as possible, and we want to see more goals.Stats: What have we seen from Isak in 2026/27?(Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images)A fit Alexander Isak looks a frightening Alexander Isak – at least as far as his involvement in the penalty box is concerned.

Alexander Isak stats (per 90) Percentiles 0.75 non-penalty xG 85th 34.8km/h top speed 93rd 3.5 duels won 19th 54.2% duels won percentage 85th 4.58 touches in opposition box 48th 0.27 possession won in final third 44th * Alexander Isak’s stats in the 2026/27 Premier League season (Fotmob)As we can see, the leg break has done little to slow our star striker down, and he remains an exceptional penalty box threat, which is excellent news.However, there’s clear work to be done on the defensive side of the game, as we can clearly observe from Fotmob’s statistics from the 2026/27 Premier League season so far.But it’s not all on our No.9’s shoulders. There’s a clear need for the team to improve in how it works as a unit, getting the ball into the final third and, ultimately, to Isak’s feet in the penalty box.4.58 touches in the opposition box on average per 90 needs to be improved if we want to fully take advantage of our most potent goalscoring threat.