15 Dec 2025 03:42:11
Ed1, regarding Isak. Do you feel a little bit concern regarding his fitness? He doesn't had a proper pre-season, and that's fair. But, its almost half of the season already and it doesn't seems like he is close to full fitness yet. You think its normal for player like him or this is more on fitness staff?
{Ed001's Note - it is not normal, the only excuse is that he could well be carrying an injury.}
15 Dec 2025 06:18:44
It is absolutely not normal, assuming he isn’t injured, for Isak to still be unfit almost halfway into the season. In fact, it’s downright unacceptable from both Isak but more so the club. It’s coming up to four months since Isak signed for us, and it should have taken him only 5-6 weeks to reach the physical fitness required for the season.
That he is still plodding around the pitch at half speed means someone has done their job very badly indeed.
15 Dec 2025 07:14:35
He’s wayyy too injury prone to be Deliberately missing Pre Seasons.
But if we can get him fit and firing….
15 Dec 2025 07:29:32
Benteke MK 2 incoming.
15 Dec 2025 07:46:20
We’re still not playing to his strengths for me. There has been some improvement from the team but that’s just been the last couple of games. I’ll reserve judgement for now.
15 Dec 2025 08:01:17
I am worried we may come to regret the Isak signing. I have not even seen a single flash of brilliance or moment of magic from him that's made me think "yeah, he'll come good". Like Wirtz for example is playing very well, doing lots of impressive things and working extremely hard. So the goals not being there yet doesn't worry me. It feels like a matter of time. However, Isak is doing none of those things.
Luckily, Ekitike looks an absolute steal at £79m. 3rd top scorer in the league now and he was dropped for about 40% of our games. So even if Isak does turn out to be a very expensive flop, we've still got a potentially world class striker. Ekitike really reminds me of Thierry Henry.
15 Dec 2025 08:16:52
He looks a pale shadow of the dynamic, all action forward getting on the end of everything in the final third for Newcastle, he always had this languid aspect to his game but it's like that has taken over entirely. The goal he scored recently was a vintage isak goal, if there is one thing he is elite at it's positioning and instinctive finishing, we just have seen barely any of that.
Certainly he will come good but he has to be feeling anxious seeing how brilliant ekitike has been and how hard he works.
15 Dec 2025 08:37:49
The only similarity between Isak and Benteke is the colour of their skin. A bit of a mindless comparison imo.
15 Dec 2025 08:44:12
Seriously getting Robbie Keane vibes about this transfer.
15 Dec 2025 08:57:09
He’s literally nothing like Benteke. Not in any way. That’s a very strange comparison.
{Ed025's Note - yeah its a terrible insult to Benteke at the moment Sean, hopefully he gets fit, drops the attitude and starts earning the money you paid for him mate..
15 Dec 2025 09:37:55
He doesn’t look fit to me, it’s as simple as that. His movement and mechanics are way, way off. It’s not just him though, barely any of our players can make it beyond 65 minutes without injury, cramp, a severe drop off or needing to be substituted. I wonder whose fault that could be? Hmmmm.
15 Dec 2025 09:54:49
It's actually Chiesa all over again. He came in having missed pre season and pick up an injury early on. It took our fitness gurus the entire season to get Chiesa fit. Hopefully they have learnt from it and can get Isak up to speed quicker.
The one positive is that now Chiesa looks like one of the fittest and sharpest players in the squad so those writing Isak off are definitely a bit premature. We have a fit and firing Ekitike to take the pressure off Isak so I'd rather give Isak whatever time is required to get fully fit and fully healed.
15 Dec 2025 10:22:59
Was about to say the exact same thing, AW. It’s pretty simple really - he’s just not fit and was rushed into the team far too quickly. He should be left alone for a while, get his fitness up properly, and then be eased back in gradually. For now, Ekitike should be starting as much as possible.
Some people are forgetting just how good Isak actually is. He’s a fantastic player, but he can’t be blamed when a manager is far too eager to start him before he’s fully fit. There's no wonder he doesn't look like half the player he was last season. How Slot can't see that is beyond me.
15 Dec 2025 10:30:14
He’s not fit, he missed pre-season.
Pretty obvious really.
We won’t see the best of him until he’s had a pre-season.
15 Dec 2025 10:52:17
Sean
Isak and Benteke, they’re both sh#t mate, that’s a comparison, at the moment anyway.
15 Dec 2025 11:03:46
Yeh MK but this isn't a kid new to the league that we've hardly seen before. We've seen loads of flashes of brilliance and moments of magic outa Isak to know what we have.
Ekitike is getting us out of a whole at the moment because he is playing like a £100m striker. This continues and it will buy Isak time. Absolutely no worries longterm about him.
15 Dec 2025 11:52:19
All I can say is I expected a whole lot more from him. I don't really understand that it's now mid December and his cause for being a 130 odd million flop is that he's STILL not fit!, That only runs so far with me. How in the name of God can an elite athlete NOT be fit, nor gained fitness in this length of time? Unless of course it's exactly as ED01 says he's carrying an injury.
Which in itself is another concern albeit slightly different but it's all resulting in a poor deal so far. Hopefully for all parties it starts to work out soon.
15 Dec 2025 12:36:06
In fairness thiis time last year he was having just as disappointing a season. Then he took off.
15 Dec 2025 12:38:17
"He drops the attitude"?
What attitude? Genuine question, Ed25.
{Ed025's Note - he seems lethargic and disinterested to me Oli, now it could be that hes carrying an injury or unfit but his body language is awful mate, but maybe thats just me?..
15 Dec 2025 13:25:00
Spending the summer on strike should've been a major warning sign about his character.
15 Dec 2025 13:42:31
Florian, he was having a disappointing season at this point because he was unsettled and unhappy about his contract situation, in a similar fashion as he was this year, leading to uncommitted performances. Eddie Howe had to put his head right and get him to commit to staying until the end of the year, and then he started flying.
It's a very different situation to where he is at now, where he is happy at the club he is at, but his body clearly isn't ready to perform.
15 Dec 2025 15:06:05
You're right ED25. He looks "wrong" whatever that means, but I know what you mean exactly!
15 Dec 2025 15:24:01
He was never getting outa Newcastle last January so don't agree with that at all. Whaterver the reason the bloke scored 20 goals from Mid December onwards last season. We have two top centreforwards, by the business end when the big games are being played hopefully they are BOTH on top form.
15 Dec 2025 15:41:41
He wasn't trying to get out necessarily, but he was promised a new contract and didn't get it when the new DOF came in, so was seriously peeved. That led to him putting in lackluster performances, Gordon had his head turned by us around the same time and it was an all around grim time in the Newcastle dressing room.
15 Dec 2025 16:08:26
"Now it could be that he's carrying an injury or unfit but his body language is awful mate, but maybe that's just me? . "
Yeah Ed25, I think it's more that than anything else cos he does NOT look fit at all. Not even close. I always thought he shouldn't have been playing at all when he arrived cos preseason is extremely important. Just ask Chiesa last season compared to this season where he had one and is now fully fit. Same with Ekitike.
We're going to have to be patient with him. Now I do agree that had he had an actual preseason and he was this bad, I would have very little grace for him.
15 Dec 2025 16:56:34
Alexander Isak’s proposed move to Liverpool has all the hallmarks of a high-profile signing that ultimately fails to deliver—not because of a lack of talent, but because of fit, context, and expectation. In that sense, it risks becoming another Benteke-style transfer: a technically capable forward brought in at great expense, only to find himself fundamentally unsuited to the system he is meant to elevate.
History is not on Liverpool’s side when it comes to marquee attacking signings. Of the 28 players signed for fees exceeding £80 million across elite clubs, only seven can reasonably be deemed an unequivocal success. Even allowing for variance in context, the law of averages is unforgiving: roughly a third of big-money signings fail outright. When you layer that statistical reality onto Liverpool’s own recent recruitment misfires, it becomes difficult to view Isak as a low-risk proposition.
Tactically, the concerns are obvious. Isak thrives when play is structured around him—when he has space to drift, time to receive between lines, and a system that accommodates his preference for isolation rather than relentless pressing. Liverpool’s model, by contrast, has historically demanded constant intensity, rapid ball circulation, and forwards who create value through movement without possession as much as with it. Benteke’s failure was not about effort or ability; it was about incompatibility. The same danger signs are present here.
There is also the issue of timing and psychology. Leaving Newcastle now—mid-project, amid growing expectations—feels premature. Had Isak stayed another season, continued his development, and exited with goodwill and momentum, the narrative would be very different. Instead, this move carries the residue of agent-driven urgency and inflated valuation, which rarely benefits the player. Liverpool would not be signing Isak the developing forward, but Isak the £100m solution—an entirely different burden.
That is why this increasingly feels like a vanity signing: one driven as much by profile and market perception as by genuine tactical necessity. Sporting directors are not immune to statement moves, and when those moves are made to signal ambition rather than address specific structural needs, the risk multiplies.
Isak may still score goals. He may even have moments of brilliance. But success at Liverpool is not measured in flashes—it is measured in systemic contribution and sustainability. On balance, the indicators point toward a mismatch that history has already warned us about. If this transfer goes through, it is far more likely to be remembered as another expensive lesson than a transformative masterstroke.
{Ed025's Note - thats a great read MrB..
15 Dec 2025 17:11:14
Was that your original post Mr B?
15 Dec 2025 17:38:44
AI answer.
15 Dec 2025 18:30:03
That is clearly AI by Mr B. The amount of “-“ and then the conclusion at the end is a giveaway of how AI writes.
15 Dec 2025 21:00:37
I use grammerly and it does change a few words, but not much.
15 Dec 2025 21:25:10
Sometimes it can take a season for a player to settle in a new environment. Let’s give it chance.
16 Dec 2025 10:02:10
Not sure that is AI. Looked more like an article that a specialist in the field wrote.
So well, sorry. I take it back. Most definitely AI.