With Alexander Isak’s transfer to Liverpool nearing its completion, Mirror Football has a look at how Arne Slot may deploy the Swedish forward in his starting line-up
Arne Slot has finally secured his top target of the transfer window – but how does he fit Alexander Isak into his Liverpool line-up? The 25-year-old striker arrived at Liverpool’s training ground on deadline day morning for a medical test.
Liverpool agreed a £125million deal with Newcastle for his signature, after a long and painful summer of Isak trying to force an exit from St. James’ Park. Now the Swede is in the Reds’ grasp, the defending Premier League champions will need to work out how they can use him alongside their summer signings, £116m midfield magician Florian Wirtz and £79m goal machine Hugo Ekitike, as well as Liverpool mainstay Mohamed Salah.
Ahead of Isak’s imminent arrival at Anfield, Mirror Football has a look at how the Reds manager can accommodate Isak – something Slot will no doubt be pondering over the international break.
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Slot sticks to his tried and tested
When a big change is on the horizon, it’s sometimes best to keep everything else as similar as possible. With this in mind, Slot may stick with the 4-2-3-1 formation he has been deploying this season.
This would likely see Wirtz keep his position behind the striker while Salah attacks from the right-hand side. However, with Isak in the building, Ekitike, who boasts two goals and one assist in his first three Premier League matches, may be shifted out to the left.
This would leave Isak, who will surely be given the Reds’ No. 9 shirt left vacant by Darwin Nunez, as the lone striker up front. It also means that Dominik Szoboszlai, who is currently filling in at right-back for the injured Jeremie Frimpong and has been sensational this term, would lose his place in the starting XI.
All-out attack
With so many world-class attackers, Slot may decide to simply play all of them. Attack has been Liverpool’s first form of defence, scoring eight goals in their first three matches while conceding four.
If Slot is happy to gamble on always scoring at least one more than the opposition, then a 4-2-2-2 would be terrifying. This would see Isak and Ekitike lead the frontline while Salah and Wirtz come inside, playing as attacking midfielders. This would be new to Salah, who has primarily played as a winger throughout his career. It would, though, once again, mean Szoboszlai misses out.
Dropping Florian Wirtz
When Wirtz arrived at Anfield, he was unveiled as the most expensive Premier League player in history – now he is not even the priciest player at Liverpool. And, given his difficult start to life at Anfield, he may not even be in the starting XI.
Ekitike has been on fire in his first few games, so it’s currently unthinkable Slot would drop the Frenchman for Isak. However, as Liverpool were lucky not to drop points against Bournemouth and Newcastle, Slot may opt to add another body in midfield to protect his wobbly defence.
Out of everybody in the team, it currently makes the most sense to drop Wirtz, which was unthinkable when he was unveiled with his No. 7 shirt at the club.
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