Arne Slot has signalled he may select Alexander Isak ahead of team-mates who are currently fitter as part of a push to restore the Sweden international to full match sharpness.<\/p>\n
Isak, 26, has started just six matches for the Reds and is yet to complete a full 90 minutes since his arrival. Slot warned the club face a short-term dilemma as Liverpool prepare for a dense run of fixtures: seven games in 22 days for the reigning Premier League champions will increase first-team exposure but also demand careful management of minutes.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can improve as a team and we will improve definitely as individuals because players will be adapted to the league much better,\u201d Slot said before Liverpool\u2019s clash with Nottingham Forest on Friday. \u201cWith Alex, it will still take a bit of time but he will end up being the player he was at Newcastle if we get him fit.<\/p>\n
\u201cI do know that 100 per cent fit Alexander Isak is a big, big, big plus for this team. But for him to get there, he might need to have minutes where you could argue that another player might be further ahead of him in terms of match fitness.\u201d<\/p>\n
Slot acknowledged the trade-off between selecting the most match-ready option and accelerating Isak\u2019s recovery to peak condition. The striker, a \u00a3125 million signing, could therefore see increased minutes even if team-mates appear to be in better immediate form.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis morning, I had a conversation with the performance staff, \u2019What is the best way for him\u2014not for Liverpool\u2014to get him as fast as we can to that 100 per cent?\u2019\u201d Slot said, adding that he must balance individual recovery with the team\u2019s needs. \u201cI always have to find the balance between what is the best for him as an individual and for us as a team.\u201d<\/p>\n
Slot\u2019s comments underline a pragmatic approach to selection: prioritise long-term effectiveness of a high-cost signing while navigating a congested fixture list.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Slot faces a selection gamble: play Isak to build fitness despite others being more match-fit. Ahead<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4622,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[175,172,1125],"tags":[1081,195,299],"class_list":["post-4623","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-liverpool","category-epl","category-strikers","tag-adaptation","tag-alexander-isak","tag-arne-slot"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4623","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=4623"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4623\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4622"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4623"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4623"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4623"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}