Alexander Isak

[kingfunk]

I really don’t see where he fits into this team, I would definitely sell to recover funds from more glaring problems. Anything north of 100m I’d take the hit.

[Corndog]

I really don’t see where he fits into this team, I would definitely sell to recover funds from more glaring problems. Anything north of 100m I’d take the hit.

You couldn’t sell him for 100m

[Buzzo]

Even in 20 mins yesterday you can see he is a proper 9. The runs he makes and the position he picks up. He is very different from Hugo.

Two moments I noticed were one near post run and more one where he pulled back for Gakpo to pick him out. Gakpo didn’t get his head up and just played a blind pull back into an area but if he’s looked up Isak had made a good run for him. I can see him dove tailing well with Wirtz who has got very high chances created numbers and if we get someone good to replace Salah we have a lot of fire power.

I’d play Hugo off the right with Rio backing him up. Gakpo has had a shocking season far far worse than Salah.

He’s a class 9 we need to see him on the pitch. He’s also our most expensive signing ever - we aren’t selling him

[Buzzo]

We haven't been screwed over, he was epic at Newcastle and on paper was a great fit for the team and they way we played last season. Issue is that we didn't both him and Ekitike for such high fees, and it made us neglect the areas we needed to strengthen

Diaz should have been replaced before buying a second elite striker

Not screwed over. We did that all by ourselves

We needed to replace Jota and Nunez, hence Ekitike and Isak.

Gakpo moved up to first choice RW backed up by Rio. From everything Slot has said he wanted to keep Diaz.

[rudedog]

For the money we paid and his fitness level when he arrived, we were royally screwed over.

For that kind of outlay, you should be looking at players with an impeccable injury record (Salah, Suarez etc), not someone who took 2-3 months to get remotely match fit and a questionable injury history.

[Buzzo]

We hard balled the **** out of Newcastle to get a player with three years left on his contract. We also needed Isak to effectively go on strike so he could sign for us. No training other than on his own. That’s on us. It was impossible for him to be fully fit when he arrived.

I am inclined to give the guy who has been the second best striker in the league over the last three or four years time to acclimatise. The second injury was a killer and that was nothing to do with his injury history. He got his leg broken in a terrible tackle.

It’s all ****ing doom and gloom this season and rightly so. But weÂ’ve not seen the best of Isak so that’s something to be positive about. He is elite.

[Doc_Piptorious]

We hard balled the **** out of Newcastle to get a player with three years left on his contract. We also needed Isak to effectively go on strike so he could sign for us. No training other than on his own. That’s on us. It was impossible for him to be fully fit when he arrived.

I am inclined to give the guy who has been the second best striker in the league over the last three or four years time to acclimatise. The second injury was a killer and that was nothing to do with his injury history. He got his leg broken in a terrible tackle.

It’s all ****ing doom and gloom this season and rightly so. But weÂ’ve not seen the best of Isak so that’s something to be positive about. He is elite.

He needs time to show what he can do.

The pros are he will have had a year to settle into a new home/club/part of the country and should have a proper pre season under his bbelt by the time next season begins.

Any minutes he gets between now and the end of this season will put him in a better place in terms of fitness and mentality for said pre season.

Next season will be what we get to judge him in. Nothing from this season is on the player imo. Just bad luck upon bad luck for him this season.

[Sus]

Even in 20 mins yesterday you can see he is a proper 9. The runs he makes and the position he picks up. He is very different from Hugo.

Two moments I noticed were one near post run and more one where he pulled back for Gakpo to pick him out. Gakpo didn’t get his head up and just played a blind pull back into an area but if he’s looked up Isak had made a good run for him. I can see him dove tailing well with Wirtz who has got very high chances created numbers and if we get someone good to replace Salah we have a lot of fire power.

I’d play Hugo off the right with Rio backing him up. Gakpo has had a shocking season far far worse than Salah.

He’s a class 9 we need to see him on the pitch. He’s also our most expensive signing ever - we aren’t selling him

Agree with this Buzzo. Isak this season clearly has been a disaster for the club and who knows what return on investment he will represent over the course is his contract. Huge risk for the club to take

Having said that, I was more encouraged after his 20 min cameo yesterday than any other time this season. He looked much fitter and provided a real presence up front, with the caveat it was at home against tired Fulham legs.

As well as Buzzos examples above, there was another where he won a long ball while competing with Bassey in the air (which is not easy) then passed along the left and arrived in the box for a header only for Bassey to get back and clear it with a last ditch effort. Nothing came of it, but it was some proper No 9 play we’ve been missing this season

[Doc_Piptorious]

Agree with this Buzzo. Isak this season clearly has been a disaster for the club and who knows what return on investment he will represent over the course is his contract. Huge risk for the club to take

Having said that, I was more encouraged after his 20 min cameo yesterday than any other time this season. He looked much fitter and provided a real presence up front, with the caveat it was at home against tired Fulham legs.

As well as Buzzos examples above, there was another where he won a long ball while competing with Bassey in the air (which is not easy) then passed along the left and arrived in the box for a header only for Bassey to get back and clear it with a last ditch effort. Nothing came of it, but it was some proper No 9 play we’ve been missing this season

Great point. Isak very much only has getting the ball into the net in his head all game long. He does come back to start a move but when he does that, he then does exactly what you said and busts a gut to be in the box top get on the end of a ball in or a ball dropped from a shot or cross.


Very much the type of attacker that will make sure he is in good positions in anticiptation of a ball coming to him and once the team gets used to having that in the team, they will start to get more passes, crosses etc into that central area and get out of the old habits of attacks having to end at the feet of a wide attacker more often than not.

[rudedog]

I haven’t questioned his ability, we have every right to scrutinise the price we paid given his fitness when he arrived coupled with his questionable injury history.

[Doc_Piptorious]

I haven’t questioned his ability, we have every right to scrutinise the price we paid given his fitness when he arrived coupled with his questionable injury history.

To be fair to Isak, in five of the six seasons before he joined us he still managed to play 30 or more league games in each of thise seasons, and the one he dropped under that number (the one that he moved to Newcastle in so was with two clubs that season) he still managed 24 league games.

So he has had injuries but if league games are anything to go by he seems to have been available far more often than not.

Only aware of that because when we were first linked to him I was of the opinion that he was missing big chunks of seasons pretty much every season and was surprised to find out it was not really true.


As for his price, pretty sure I questioned that at the time too but currently of the opinion that the jury is very much out on that front until he gets at least a season (mostly injury free) to show what he can do.

[Sus]

I haven’t questioned his ability, we have every right to scrutinise the price we paid given his fitness when he arrived coupled with his questionable injury history.

Don’t disagree with you at all. Just saying I saw some positives from the cameo yesterday hopefully can build on. Green shoots and all that

But if we had spent the 125m quid on Semenyo and Guehi in the summer we would be in a much stronger position now, as a club

[Rich]

Yesterday jus showed he’s nowhere near match fit. Shock horror.

What we do need to do however is build a new setup that will accommodate and benefit both Wirtz and Isak. I’ve not really seen any sign we know how we’re going to do that - but with Isak’s awful season of injury it isn’t remotely surprising.

[Catrin]

He was fuming when he made a good run in the box and Gakpo either didn’t notice or completely ignored him.

[vlahka]

Absolutely ignored him. He was just thinking of shooting and nothing else. It was very stupid leaving gakpo on but taking wirtz off.