Why Isak’s goals are starting to carry real weight

A year ago, writing a positive word about Alexander Isak’s start to life at Liverpool would have felt like a stretch. Eighteen months after his British record £125m move from Newcastle United, the picture looks very different, and Saturday’s 2-0 win over Brighton was further proof that the patience Liverpool committed to is starting to pay off.

A difficult first chapter finally behind him

Isak’s opening season at Anfield was never going to be judged fairly in real time. A slow start was compounded by a broken leg in December, and four goals from 22 appearances invited exactly the kind of outside doubt that follows every expensive signing who struggles to settle quickly. Our view at the time was that judging a forward on a campaign disrupted by a serious injury made little sense, and that stance looks increasingly justified now.

It would have been easy for the club to panic, to tinker with his role or to start searching for alternatives in the transfer market. Instead the message from inside Anfield stayed consistent. This was always framed as a long-term investment in an elite forward rather than a deal to be judged within a matter of months, especially once fitness became the obvious barrier to settling in.

The numbers tell their own story

According to BBC Football, Isak has now taken his Premier League tally for the season to six, and only Erling Haaland has scored more in the division. More tellingly, he has personally supplied more than half of Liverpool’s league goals this term, a level of dependence that would worry most clubs over a full season but, for now, reflects just how central he has become to Andoni Iraola’s attack.

We would argue the manner of his recent goals matters as much as the quantity. These have not arrived in chaotic, one-sided games where chances are plentiful and pressure is low. Several have come in matches that demanded precision under control, and that tends to separate a good run of form from the genuine article.

The goal that summed up his value

Against Brighton, Isak did not need to dominate the game to influence it. Liverpool had just 35.6% possession at home, an unusually low figure for a side winning comfortably, yet the contest rarely looked uncomfortable. Bradley Barcola won his duel out wide, surged forward and delivered into a dangerous area, and Isak finished with the kind of instinctive composure that strikers either have or simply do not.

There is also a wider point about how Andoni Iraola wants this Liverpool side to play. He has never been precious about surrendering the ball if it serves a tactical purpose, and Saturday fit that pattern exactly. Brighton came into the match in good attacking form and still saw plenty of possession, yet Liverpool defended with real authority and rarely looked troubled in behind.

A defence quietly doing its job too

Ronald Araujo was central to that defensive solidity, driving into duels and contributing to the move that led to the opener even without registering an assist on paper. Four clean sheets from eight league games suggests a team learning its coach’s demands quickly rather than one still finding its feet defensively, and it is that platform which allows a player like Isak to decide games further up the pitch.

Isak’s numbers do not exist in isolation either. Bradley Barcola offers the kind of direct, disruptive running that can turn a stalemate in an instant, while Florian Wirtz provides the subtlety to unlock deeper defences between the lines. Cody Gakpo continues to stretch opposition back lines even on afternoons when he is not the headline act, and the competition for places in that forward line can only sharpen everyone involved.

The opening goal against Brighton, a deflected Wirtz effort off Pascal Gross, came during a spell when Liverpool were already causing serious problems through sheer energy and directness. If that trio keeps developing together, Isak should keep benefiting from better service, and better service tends to mean more goals for a striker whose movement is already a genuine weapon.

Depth will be tested before Arsenal

There will be some concern over Wirtz after he was substituted with an ankle issue, and with fixtures arriving every three days, squad depth will be examined properly over the coming weeks. Liverpool cannot afford to lean on the same handful of players indefinitely, however encouraging the current run has been.

Liverpool now sit fourth and the mood around the club has clearly shifted, but results like this confirm progress without proving transformation. Arsenal next will be a far sterner examination of whether this version of Liverpool can compete at the sharp end of the table, rather than simply picking up expected results against mid-table opposition.

What already looks clear is that Isak is repaying the faith Liverpool showed in him during a difficult first season. The conversation has moved on from whether £125m was too much to pay. The more interesting question now is how high this version of Isak, and this version of Liverpool, can actually go.