What did Alexander Isak see during Liverpool defeat as ‘crucial reminder’ issued?
Some are more than happy to play the Arne Slot sack card as Liverpool and Alexander Isak start noticing some ‘crucial’ things.
As usual, we read the football media so you don’t have to…
Alexander Isak the great reminder for Liverpool
Mediawatch cannot resist a glance at the Liverpool Echo the day after a comprehensive Liverpool defeat; we do bloody love a rubberneck.
We hope to find despair – and there’s plenty of that – but we also find cryptic. All manner of cryptic. We know Reach love a ‘curiosity gap’ but there’s a curiosity gap and then there’s ‘what the f*** does that even mean? gap.
‘Alexander Isak has just seen what Liverpool need as Arne Slot’s suspicions strengthened’ is front and centre.
The first clue is the ‘as’, which unfortunately in 2025 means that there is no connection between what Isak has supposedly seen and Slot’s ‘suspicions’ (which are about referees, yawn).
But do we know what Isak has seen? He spent the whole afternoon on the subs’ bench so he would have had a good view. But we suspect he did not then take to social media to declare that Liverpool actually look really quite sh*t.
READ: 16 Conclusions from Man City 3-0 Liverpool: Champions slip to eighth and out of title race
We are told that Isak was ‘seemingly bewildered’, but what did he ‘see’?
The Reds need a reset. And the international break should be a time for Slot to come up with an attacking masterplan – with £125million Isak and £116m Wirtz the fulcrum.
So what ‘Alexander Isak has just seen’ is – after some investigation – that Arne Slot needs to make Liverpool quite a lot better. It’s something of a revelation.
Elsewhere on the Echo: ‘Liverpool left with no other option as sight on subs bench sends crucial reminder’
We think – though it really is hard to tell – that Liverpool have been left with ‘no other option’ but to ‘get him (Isak) fit and firing on the other side of the break’.
Presumably, the ‘crucial reminder’ is that they do have a £125m striker. File under ‘helpful content’.
Suspicious minds
The Mirror are second only to the Echo in their reliance on Liverpool fan traffic so they are more than happy to lean into conspiracy theories.
Jamie Carragher raises referee suspicion as Virgil van Dijk controversy stuns Liverpool
He doesn’t ‘raise referee suspicion’ – he would be in trouble with Sky Sports if he did – but merely says the decision was wrong. Which has been echoed by just about every other pundit and referee since. It’s a naked attempt to tap into the one-eyed paranoia of football fans. And they do not stop there…
Liverpool fume over Man City ‘double standards’ as Sky Sports pundit shares VAR theory
Now Liverpool may well be ‘fuming’ (we have some sympathy) but nobody from Liverpool has used the words ‘double standards’. Because to use the words ‘double standards’ would likely invite an FA charge. Suspicious, we are sure you will agree.
Tactics bored
When Oliver Brown is not getting all mad about men supposedly pretending to be women in the Daily Telegraph, he is writing pieces about how Liverpool have f***ed things up.
One thing, though; we would suggest that a piece headlined ‘Arne Slot’s tactics have sabotaged Liverpool’s title defence before it has begun’ might want to mention a single Slot tactic.
WWJD?
Obviously, there is mileage in comparisons between Arne Slot and Jurgen Klopp at this difficult time for the Liverpool boss. And if there is mileage, there is the Mirror:
Arne Slot’s text messages from Jurgen Klopp and ex-Liverpool manager’s opinion of him
Now this is pretty bloody interesting if Klopp has been texting Slot in this tricky spell, perhaps with advice about coping with being bad champions; Jurgen Klopp has form in that department.
Slightly less interesting if said text messages were ‘after his appointment was announced’ last year and ‘he didn’t divulge the specifics of their chat’.
But what of Klopp’s opinion?
Jurgen Klopp backed Liverpool successor Arne Slot long before the Dutchman’s current struggles at Anfield.
Oh.
Weird that the word ‘sack’ has slipped into the URL of that story about the events of 17 months ago, isn’t it? They’ll be gutted when they spot the mistake.
Who could possibly win the title?
‘A SUPERCOMPUTER has predicted Arsenal will win the Premier League title’ – The Sun, September 28.
‘A SUPERCOMPUTER has predicted the final Premier League table with Arsenal looking to finally take the crown’ – The Sun, October 27.
‘ARSENAL are set to storm to a first Premier League title in 22 years, claims a supercomputer’ – The Sun, November 3.
‘A SUPERCOMPUTER has predicted Arsenal to finally clinch the Premier League title over Manchester City’ – The Sun, November 10.
Has anybody thought of consulting a SUPERCOMPUTER about the chances of Arsenal winning the Premier League title?
A Tuch of England crisis
‘Two Players Withdraw From England Squad As Tuchel Faces Injury Crisis’ screams SPORTbible.
It really is something of a disaster. How will Thomas Tuchel cope without his third-choice goalkeeper and winger Anthony Gordon in two largely meaningless England games? Can things get ANY worse?
