Sweden manager Graham Potter has made clear that Alexander Isak remains below full fitness after returning from injury and will be managed carefully during the international window. The 26-year-old, who was an unused substitute during the 3\u20130 defeat to Manchester City, travelled with Potter\u2019s Sweden squad but is not expected to play heavy minutes.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s had a good week, he\u2019s available [to face Switzerland on Saturday],\u201d Potter told a press conference. \u201cBut we have to be smart with him because he\u2019s been out for a while.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s not ready to play two matches for 90 minutes. We have to wait and see.\u201d<\/p>\n
Potter, the former West Ham United boss, emphasised caution as Isak attempts to regain rhythm. The striker\u2019s start at Liverpool has been difficult, and time away on international duty has provided little respite: Sweden sit bottom of their World Cup qualification group with just one point from four games.<\/p>\n
Sweden must beat both Switzerland and Slovenia to remain in contention for automatic qualification, and even then they require second-placed Kosovo to lose against both teams to have a chance of advancing.<\/p>\n
When asked whether Isak had been dwelling on a slow beginning at Liverpool during the break \u2014 an issue occurring amid an indifferent spell for the Premier League champions, who have lost five games already \u2014 Potter insisted the forward\u2019s concentration is on national team duties.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s like anybody in terms of the Swedish national team,\u201d Potter explained. \u201cHe\u2019s frustrated with the results we\u2019ve had.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s clear as I\u2019ve said. But all I\u2019ve found here is a group of players that really want to do better, that are frustrated in terms of results-wise where they\u2019re at. They\u2019re just desperate to do well for their country and there\u2019s a real feeling for that.\u201d<\/p>\n
For now, Sweden will manage Isak\u2019s minutes with an eye on both his recovery and the immediate demands of a difficult qualifying campaign.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Potter says Liverpool striker Alexander Isak is short of fitness and will see limited minutes. soon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4483,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[961,175],"tags":[1081,195],"class_list":["post-4484","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international","category-liverpool","tag-adaptation","tag-alexander-isak"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4484","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4484"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4484\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4483"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4484"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4484"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4484"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}