How will Liverpool reshape their attack around Alexander Isak?

Heavy metal football is back at Liverpool, and it’s back with a bang. Their British record signing of Alexander Isak on deadline day pushed their total summer spend beyond £400 million, with most of that money being diverted to revamp their attack. The Reds’ forward line certainly is quite stacked now, but that does present a bit of a challenge in terms of putting it all together on the pitch.

Many have pointed out that Liverpool do not necessarily need to play all their new forwards together and can rotate them, which they definitely should at various points. However, you don’t spend over 300 million of the king’s finest on three attackers to bench one of them on the big days, so Arne Slot will have to work out a way to put them all in the same XI.

Very simply put, the challenge is that all three new attacking signings are players who like to operate in central areas and tend to drift out towards the left a little bit more. Of course, Florian Wirtz very much is someone who operates between the lines, Hugo Ekitike tends to start up top but likes to drop and drift, while Alexander Isak tends to limit his lateral movement along the opposition back line for the most part. So, they won’t necessarily get in each other’s way, but they may need some balancing around them.

Option 1: Stick with the 4-2-3-1

The most straightforward option would be to stick to the 4-2-3-1 formation. Although the new trio may all be biased towards the left, Mohamed Salah’s presence on the right should make him a great outlet for a multidimensional attack. Regardless of how they proceed, Cody Gakpo is the likeliest candidate to drop out of the first-choice XI, so the only question that stands is who will fill his position.

Per Transfermarkt, Isak has started as a left winger on paper more often than Ekitike. The Swedish forward had a run of four games at the end of the 2022/23 season when he started beside Callum Wilson in a front three, in addition to one match for Real Sociedad and a couple of international games. The Frenchman, meanwhile, played there thrice for Reims, once in Denmark for Vejle Boldklub and once for his nation’s under-21 side.

Focusing on their spells out on the left for club sides, it is interesting to note the differences in the roles they played. Isak did often position himself on the touchline and even received the ball there a good few times. In fact, his string of left wing starts came on the back of a substitute appearance against Everton, when he did this:

As Newcastle got forward and closer to the box, Isak generally tended to tuck inside to form more of a front-two with Wilson, while the left-side number eight would often pull out to provide width, like so:

In theory, this idea made sense as it brought Isak closer to goal, but it didn’t quite work in practice as he drew a blank in all four starts and was pretty quiet. In the two seasons thereafter, the Swede became Newcastle’s lead striker and crossed 20 Premier League goals both times, so he certainly seems best used starting centrally.

Ekitike, on the other hand, did not have a fixed line-leading striker alongside him when he started on the left for Reims. In that role, he had the freedom to drift around to all parts and play his natural game, like so:

If he starts on the left of a 4-2-3-1 for Liverpool with Isak up top, Ekitike should be able to play a similar role. He will definitely look to drift infield both without and with the ball, as his natural carrying tendency tends to take him towards his right foot.

The main challenge in this setup will be ensuring Ekitike and Wirtz do not run into each other, as both will look to find pockets to receive the ball in the left half-space. Instructing the German creator to lean towards the right might be one solution, but that would limit his game a decent bit. Instead, there might be a better option.

Option 2: Switch to a front two

The good old 4-4-2 (or more accurately 4-2-2-2 in this case) might be the best way for Liverpool to accommodate all of their new attackers. This one should be pretty self-explanatory: Salah starts on the right, Isak as the left-sided striker with Ekitike alongside him, and Wirtz on the left of midfield.

One might wonder whether placing Ekitike towards the right might limit his threat, but that should not be the case. Although he does tend to prefer drifting to the left a little bit more as he can then drive inwards onto his right foot, it is worth recalling how he functioned in a strike partnership with Omar Marmoush last season. The Frenchman was the one who started towards the right on paper for the most part, though they both moved around quite a lot in a very fluid attack.

There surely is potential for him to forge a somewhat similar partnership with Isak. Although the ex-Newcastle striker might not drop and drift as much as Marmoush, he certainly can play with his back to goal and won’t mind peeling out towards the left at times, while Ekitike will be the one who adds more dynamism with his movement between the lines. This setup should also suit Wirtz, who will get to operate in the left half-space between the lines and move around from there.

In both the 4-2-3-1 and 4-2-2-2, the tendency of the left winger to go inside will probably require the left back to dart up the flank and make well-timed forward runs to offer more width on the left of Liverpool’s attack. Miloš Kerkez excelled at doing just that for Bournemouth last season, so this should suit him much better than the generally deeper role he was deployed in for the first couple of games of the season.

On the flip side, though, Liverpool will then have to find a way to balance the rest of the team. Even without Isak and with Kerkez in a deeper role, they have had issues defending transitions early on in the season. I don’t believe they are going to be able to limit the number of transitions they concede (or indeed really want to, as Hayden and I discussed on the podcast a couple of weeks ago), so the best they can do is ensure they have a good rest defence to deal with them.

The fix may well lie in the right back spot. The Reds have likely lucked into it as Jeremie Frimpong’s injury opened the spot up for Dominik Szoboszlai of all people, and it turned out he was the Trent Alexander-Arnold replacement at home all along. Individually, he likely does not offer much more defensive quality than Frimpong, but he can’t really be any worse either given the Dutchman’s lack of defensive prowess both one-on-one and at the back post.

In possession, though, Szoboszlai can help balance the team by adding an extra presence in midfield. We saw this at times against Arsenal, as Ryan Gravenberch often dropped to form a back three while the Hungarian international pushed up infield to support Salah. He obviously can continue to make those runs, but he might want to be more selective with them and could even drop into a double pivot besides Alexis Mac Allister.

There may be a few other options as well, but looking at it on paper at least, I think this might be the best way for Liverpool to shape up with all their new attacking stars.

Bonus: Contending without Salah

On a related note, it is worth considering how Liverpool might use their new attacking firepower to make do when Salah is away at the Africa Cup of Nations in the short term, and perhaps even if he leaves Merseyside in the longer term.

One simple solution would be to plug and play Frimpong as a direct replacement. The Dutchman basically operated as a high and wide outlet on the right for Bayer Leverkusen under Xabi Alonso. He might not pose as much of a goal threat as Salah, but he certainly does not lack the speed, can be a threat popping up at the far post and should also be able to create good chances after darting down the line.

However, if Liverpool want to switch things up, their two new strikers will give the option to try a 4-3-1-2 setup. Wirtz is the obvious candidate for the number 10 role, while Szoboszlai could join Gravenberch and Mac Allister in the middle of the park. The former Bayern Munich midfielder could continue to drop into a back three, thus freeing up both full backs to bomb forward and add width to the attack. So ultimately, this too could look very similar to the 4-2-2-2 setup in possession.

Clearly, Liverpool have too much talent and too many options for their attack to flop. So, the main question for their title challenge will be how their defence holds up, both structurally and personnel-wise, given the lack of tried and tested depth. It might not be perfect, but the Reds will hope they have enough up top to power their charge. Either way, it certainly will be very entertaining for us to watch.

If you enjoyed this newsletter, we’d appreciate it if you would forward it to a friend. If you’re that friend, welcome! You can subscribe to The Transfer Flow here. We also have a podcast where we go in depth on transfer news and rumours every week. We’re on YouTube here, and you can subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify by searching for “The Transfer Flow Podcast.”