Should Alexander Isak have taken Liverpool’s penalty v Newcastle? How his record compares to Dominik Szoboszlai
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There were some really poor performances… Credit: Getty Images/Molly Darlington If this was not the moment for the most expensive British signing in history to finally start repaying his transfer fee, then it begs the question of what will be.After Mohamed Salah’s exit, Liverpool do need a new penalty taker this season, and scoring from the spot would be a good way of getting bringing Isak’s numbers up. Szoboszlai has also missed for Liverpool, slamming an effort against the crossbar during January’s draw against Burnley at Anfield.READ MORE: Why Newcastle fans were booing Liverpool winger Victor Munoz during Sunday’s 2-2 drawHowever, that was the first penalty Szoboszlai had missed in almost four years, scoring seven consecutively before facing Martin Dubravka.All in all, the 25-year-old has taken 22 penalties in his senior career, scoring 20 times, at a 91% success rate.
All things being equal, Szoboszlai should be Liverpool’s designated penalty taker this season.Are there any other candidates for Liverpool? Andoni Iraola was asked to explain why Szoboszlai took the penalty, not Isak, after the game on Sunday, and the Liverpool boss also mentioned that Alexis Mac Allister and Cody Gakpo could have been potential options.Like Szoboszlai, both players have scored penalties for Liverpool before.
There is still time to fix some things in the transfer market… Both have a longer history of scoring from the spot, dating back before their time with Liverpool, and actually have very similar – and very good – records.Mac Allister has buried 12 from 13, while Gakpo has found the net 11 times, missing only once. It would have been brilliant for the narrative if Isak had been the one to step up on Sunday, but Szoboszlai appears to be Liverpool’s new penalty taker, and the stats more than back him up.