Liverpool players keep ignoring Alan Shearer's Alexander Isak advice and it's causing them problems - opinion

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Liverpool struggled to cause Sunderland a lot of problems for large periods of their Premier League clash.The Reds kept mostly the same eleven from the West Ham United win for the midweek action, with Andy Robertson for Milos Kerkez the only change.Mohamed Salah was dropped again, but after a drab first half, the Egyptian was brought on for Cody Gakpo, with Florian Wirtz shifted out to the left.Join our newsletter for news & smart analysis. Meanwhile, after scoring his first Premier League goal against West Ham, Alexander Isak was once again selected over Hugo Ekitike up front.

Use the comment button on the bottom left to have your say Liverpool players don’t understand Alexander Isak yetWhile the Swede got up and running this past weekend, he saw very little of the ball in that game, and Wednesday was a similar story.At the end of the first 45, Sky Sports News’ Vinny O’Connor said: “I dread to think how sparse Isak’s touch map is so far. “In fairness, he’s had little to no service in a first half performance that’s lacked any real verve from the hosts.”A fair point backed up by the striker only completing one pass before the half-time whistle.Liverpool’s attack as a whole was poor, and it’s clear Slot’s players are still not accustomed to playing with a proper number nine.Alan Shearer told the Reds what they must do with the ex-Newcastle United man in their team when speaking on The Rest Is Football this week.He said: ”I guess it’s a bit of both, and they’re going to have to play earlier balls into him.

You’ve got to get the ball into the box early when you’ve got an opportunity to do it.“And they just gave one or two chances up to do that, and I was thinking, ‘Oh, come on!’ To get the best out of him and any forward, you’ve got to do that.”Isak scored 23 goals in 34 Premier League games for Newcastle last term and if Liverpool want him to notch similar numbers at Anfield, his teammates will have to form a better connection with the 26-year-old.Photo by Liverpool FC/Liverpool FC via Getty ImagesAlexander Isak will likely be benched vs Leeds UnitedRegardless of how he played tonight, it seems clear the centre-forward won’t start against Leeds on Saturday.Isak did not have a proper pre-season and has not been back from injury for that long.Three starts in six days would be a lot for any player, never mind one still lacking some match sharpness.His absence shouldn’t be a huge problem for Liverpool, though, as Ekitike remains their top goalscorer with six this term and, in truth, didn’t do an awful lot wrong to warrant being dropped. Join Our NewsletterReceive a digest of our best Liverpool content each week direct to your mailbox