Isak finally living up to price tag as Liverpool patience rewarded

It’s been a long time coming, but Alexander Isak may finally be living up to his price tag. The Sweden striker arrived at Anfield amid huge fanfare in August 2025 when he signed from Newcastle for a British record £125m. But a slow start, followed by a broken leg in December, turned his first season at the Reds into a nightmare, scoring just four goals in 22 games.

This season has been a different story. Isak’s goal against Brighton on Sunday helped Liverpool secure an impressive 2-0 win over the Premier League’s in-form side, taking his tally to six for the campaign. The 27-year-old is averaging almost a goal per game and has scored more than half of Liverpool‘s Premier League goals this season. Like last weekend at Brentford, Isak didn’t necessarily set the game alight, but again it was another crucial goal from the Swede.

His strike gave Liverpool breathing space against a Brighton team that had 64% possession and actually ended the game with a higher xG than Andoni Iraola’s side. In the end, Liverpool saw the game out and this was arguably their finest display in the league under Iraola, who secured his first league win at Anfield at the fourth time of asking. Only Erling Haaland (nine) has scored more Premier League goals this season than Isak and when Liverpool signed him from Newcastle these were the numbers they expected.

During Isak’s struggles in an injury-plagued campaign in 2025-26, the belief inside the club was that this was a long-term signing and any judgement would be reserved for when he was fully fit. Judging by recent performances, that patience is proving to be warranted. “Today, the performance was really good against a really good team,” Isak said. “The first half is really what we want to be about – winning balls and the intensity.” The exciting thing for Iraola and Liverpool is that Isak is nowhere near his best yet, and that should be a cause of worry for the rest of the top flight.

It is Arsenal next up in the league. “Alex [Isak] is threatening, especially if we can get him in those positions and we can provide him good crosses. In this case, it’s a matter of Bradley [Barcola] winning the duel and being faster than the opposition to get us in that. An impressive performance all-round For Iraola, this was a fourth win in a row since the loss to Manchester City at Anfield a fortnight ago.

The fans who braved the conditions after Storm Boelo were treated to a display where Liverpool were aggressive from the outset and defended really well to keep a Brighton side that scored 15 league goals in their previous four games at bay. Bar an early chance for Yasin Ayari, which the Swede blazed over, Fabian Hurzeler’s side didn’t have any major chances of note.

Ronald Araujo was again immense and the Liverpool backline kept their fourth clean sheet in eight league games this season. Interestingly, Liverpool‘s possession of 35.6% was their second lowest on record (since 2003-04) in a Premier League home win. Iraola’s Bournemouth side certainly preferred to have less of the ball and this was a reminder that, with the quality at his disposal going forward, Liverpool are perhaps fine with teams coming to Anfield and having more of the ball, especially if it means the opposition aren’t set up in a low block.

Both Florian Wirtz and Barcola were excellent and Cody Gakpo threatened all afternoon too, with Wirtz unlucky not to be credited for the goal when his strike took a deflection off Pascal Gross and gave Liverpool the lead. Slowly but surely, his confidence is increasing in a Liverpool shirt and it is clear to see the impact he has on a game. The German just needs the numbers to improve on his end and Liverpool will hope that he isn’t set for a spell on the sidelines after he was substituted in the second half.

“Unfortunately, he had to leave the pitch with a small twist of the ankle,” said Iraola. “It doesn’t look very big but we are playing every three days so we need to see where he is.” As for Barcola, there is a style to his play that can energise a crowd and the way he won possession for Isak’s goal felt like it ticked off exactly what Iraola wanted with the high press and sheer desire to win the ball back.

That left Isak to finish instinctively and Barcola imitated Isak’s celebration, just like they did last weekend in west London, as Liverpool moved up to fourth. Theirs is a combination that cost the Reds a total of £248m but if they can keep on combining and winning games, that will do just fine for Iraola and Liverpool.