Alexander Isak has been warned that Liverpool are expecting him to help fill the void left by Mohamed Salah. The warning comes from former Reds defender Stephen Warnock, who believes the pressure is on the Sweden international to deliver at Anfield.
Isak scored 44 Premier League goals in his last two seasons at Newcastle United, but his first campaign at Liverpool was plagued by injury, including a broken leg, and he found the net just three times in 14 top-flight appearances. He scored four goals in 22 appearances in all competitions.
Pressure after difficult first season
Speaking after Isak scored in Saturday's 2-2 draw with Nottingham Forest, Warnock told Rekatochklart.com: "It makes it a season with a bit more pressure on Isak, because of last season, the money that was spent on him, obviously it was huge."
"Now the Liverpool fans are expecting big results. They're expecting goals. Salah's left so someone's gotta fill that void."
Warnock described last season as "always going to be a write-off", adding: "It was never going to be a season where you can afford to have a player, basically on strike, not doing a pre-season, coming in."
Fitter and sharper
However, Warnock believes the 26-year-old now looks in better shape. "But he does look fitter, he does look sharper. He looks hungry and it looks like he feels that he's probably got a little bit of weight off his shoulder because he knows that he's fit," he said.
"I think he was always chasing, hoping to be fit, hoping that something would ignite last year. And it was just never going to happen."
"So, fingers crossed, he can do the business this year. He did okay at the World Cup and it absolutely adds to the confidence."
Ekitike partnership
Warnock also addressed the situation of Hugo Ekitike, who is expected to be out of action for a little while longer as he continues his recovery from an Achilles tendon injury. He believes Reds boss Andoni Iraola will eventually have to play both Isak and the Frenchman together.
"The problem with Ekitike is that we probably won't see him until New Year. And the issue you sort of get is that he's playing catch up, trying to get fit, trying to get match sharpness," Warnock said.
"When you're in the heat of the season, right in the middle of it, the problem is that you can't suddenly try to bed them in, you can't try and give them minutes to get them up to speed. So it'll probably be cameo roles where he's playing 20-30 minutes."
He added: "I think there will be a time when Iraola will want to play both players. I think he'll know that both players can play on that left hand side."
"I know there's a lot of talk about who's going to play on the left and who's going to play on the right. But you've got to have competition for places at a club like Liverpool if you want to compete for league titles."
"You've got to have good players for every position. The hard thing is to keep everyone happy. However, if you're winning games and winning titles, players are happy."
