Isak and the £125m Puzzle: Liverpool Haven't Figured Out How to Play With Their Number 9

In the 61st minute at Anfield, Alexander Isak received a pass from the right flank, controlled it with his chest before firing a low shot into the far corner. His first goal of the season — a moment that seemed to release all the pressure. But nine minutes later, Nottingham Forest equalized. And Isak stood there, hands on hips, looking toward Liverpool's defense with the eyes of a man who just realized he's speaking a different language from the rest of the team. That's the miniature portrait of the problem Joe Hart, former Manchester City goalkeeper, bluntly pointed out on BBC Sport: Liverpool haven't figured out how to play with Alexander Isak. Not because the Swedish striker is poor — 21 goals in the 2026-24 Premier League season in a Newcastle shirt is undeniable proof of class. The problem lies in the connection, what people call 'trust' in modern football. When Newcastle signed Isak, they built the entire system around him. The midfielders knew where he would move, when he wanted the ball to feet, when he needed it in behind. That's a shared language formed through hundreds of training sessions and thousands of minutes on the pitch. Liverpool doesn't have that. They have a £125m striker but are still playing as if he's not on the field. Numbers don't lie: 4 goals in his debut season, largely hampered by injuries. This season, just 1 goal after a few rounds. But those figures don't tell the whole picture. The problem lies in how Liverpool build up play. Andoni Iraola's system prioritizes wide attacks, with full-backs and wingers as the primary creative outlets. In that system, the center-forward becomes a 'hostage' — someone who stretches the opposition defense to create space for others, rather than being the final destination of every move. This is a clash of two philosophies. Newcastle built their play around a focal-point striker. Liverpool, under Iraola, operate on a collective pressing model with quick ball circulation, where no fixed 'number 9' is prioritized. Isak — a striker who needs the ball to feet, who needs to be involved in the build-up — is left stranded up front, waiting for passes that never come. Joe Hart called it 'isolation.' And he's right. But the bigger question is: who must change? Iraola has two options. One is to restructure the entire attacking system around Isak — accepting the risk of becoming predictable. Two is to find an alternative solution within the squad — accepting the risk of wasting £125m. This is the tactical crossroads every manager fears. But there's a contrarian angle few mention: the problem may not be tactical, but physical. Isak's debut season at Liverpool was ravaged by injuries. A player who can't stay on the pitch regularly can't build chemistry with teammates. The 'trust' Hart speaks of isn't something that can be forced — it needs time, repetition, continuous minutes. And Isak, due to injuries, hasn't had that. Financial pressure complicates everything further. £125m is a massive investment, creating a 'sunk cost' effect — once you've spent that money, the board and fans expect the manager to make it work. This can lead to tactical distortion: forcing the system around a player who isn't ready, or keeping an injured player in the starting XI because of pressure to justify the value. The £125m fee also creates significant PSR (Profit and Sustainability Rules) burden. With a 5-year contract, amortization costs around £25m per year — a fixed cost eating into future transfer budgets. If Isak doesn't improve, Liverpool faces a difficult equation: sell at a loss (estimated recovery of only £60-75m) or continue holding a depreciating asset. But perhaps the most concerning pattern is the 'conceding right after scoring' that Isak himself acknowledged. Against Forest, Liverpool scored in the 61st minute and conceded in the 70th. This isn't Isak's problem alone — it's a systemic weakness in defensive transition, a vulnerability that could exist independently of whether the Swedish striker integrates or not. The upcoming fixtures will be the test. Ipswich (winnable) then Atletico Madrid in the Champions League — a European-class opponent. If Isak continues to fade against Atletico, the 'flop' narrative will explode. If he shines, everything could reverse. Elite football always works that way — one moment can change the entire story. I've followed football for 31 years, from matches in Saigon to European stadiums. I've seen expensive signings fail due to tactics, and I've seen players written off as 'finished' resurrect themselves after just one season. Isak is not a bad player. He's just in the wrong system, at the wrong time, carrying a weight of expectation no one could meet in just a few months. The real question isn't 'Is Isak good?' — the answer is already clear. The real question is: does Iraola have the courage to admit his system needs to change for one player? And does Liverpool's board have the patience to wait for that to happen? In a football world where everything is measured by weekly results, patience is the rarest commodity. The world will record Isak's goal in the statistics table. But I will mark the moment he stood there, hands on hips, looking at his own defense — because that's when I understood that in football, it's not the goal that changes fate, but the person standing before it. And Isak, right now, is still standing before an unanswered question.