What Isak made of Newcastle taunts as Shearer hints at Liverpool challenge

It speaks to the ridiculous last 12 months at Liverpool that it took the most expensive player in British football history 51 weeks to complete his first 90 minutes. Three hundred and fifty six days, in fact, after making his £125m switch from Newcastle United, Alexander Isak found himself back on his old stamping ground on Sunday - and in the eye of the storm as the home fans who used to worship him made him public enemy No.1 for the day.

And it wasn't just the boos and the jeers that made Isak aware that he was no longer loved on Tyneside following his protracted and at times controversial move to Merseyside last year.

Chants of "rat, rat, rat" were audible inside the press room as the Liverpool No.9 made his way toward the players' entrance and once on the pitch, the words were even less flattering as the four-letter expletives rained down from the Leazes End.

For the laid-back Swede, it was largely water off a duck's back, with his wireless headphones likely drowning out the abuse anyway en route to the dressing room. "He wasn't bothered by it all," remarked one who saw it all unfold.

The wry smile as he left the pitch following the conclusion of the warm-up was telling but if the relaxed, natural disposition of Isak suggested he was going to shrug off the torrent of abuse, his performance inside the black-and-white cauldron of St James' Park betrayed him somewhat.

An xG (Expected Goals) tally of 1.3 suggested the Sweden international had enough of a sight at goal to hurt his former club on the day but a left-footed swipe over the bar from Cody Gakpo's cut-back wasn't hit with enough conviction.

In the first half Isak was also part of a scramble in the six-yard box that he couldn't take full advantage of with the ball in the air, and by the time the 99th minute came and Dominik Szoboszlai slammed home the point-earning spot kick, the No.9 was still only on the pitch because of a lack of forward options available to Andoni Iraola right now.

"In my opinion, he had a fantastic World Cup," Virgil van Dijk said after the game. "He had a very good pre-season. He is fit and looks very sharp in training and I have full confidence that he will be very important for us.

"Like I said, he wants to be successful. It is down to all of us to make him successful, but also up to him to make it successful as well. We need to be together.

"No. I [wouldn't be] affected by [the abuse] if I was him. I don't think he was affected by it. He tried to play his game. There were good moments and there were moments he could have done better, like all of us. I don't think that impacted him."

Being overly critical of a player who has completed just one full game in Liverpool red in a year feels harsh to an extent but these will be the parameters Isak will have to learn to thrive in if he is to make his blockbuster move a success.

Given the nature of his move last year, the knives will be out for him. Many associated with Newcastle will, inevitably, be hoping for a failure and it was something Magpies legend Alan Shearer perhaps indirectly hinted at when discussing the stoppage-time awarding of a Liverpool penalty.

Shearer said: "I was thinking: 'Go on, come and take the penalty! What have you got? Go and grab the ball and take the penalty Isak'.

"I wanted him to go and take it. I was thinking: 'Come on, you've been absolutely battered. Let's see what you've got. Go and grab the ball and take the penalty'."

The prospect of a shattered Isak skewing a spot-kick at that point in the game in front of a baying mob simply doesn't bear thinking about from a Reds perspective, particularly given the knock-on effect that outcome might have had on confidence levels for the months ahead.

"Liverpool fans have to stick by Alexander Isak," says Manchester United legend Dwight Yorke. "He's still young enough at 26, you're hopeful your bones recover a little bit quicker (following leg break in December 2025).

"He’s going to have to dig deep, and I'm sure it's not for a lack of trying or working to get back to his best.

"He just needs that little bit of luck and a little bit of magic in front of goal. Moving to Liverpool, we wanted to see if he could fulfill that sort of expectation that comes with the price tag."

Those who know Isak speak of a reserved character who doesn't speak too much around the dressing room.

It's the sort of quietly determined personality that has taken him this far, but there are question marks over whether he has the intensity to rail against his fate when things go against him, like this point in his career where he scored just four goals in 12 months at club level.

"We know he has the potential," Yorke, speaking to Reviant, added. "But with the injury comes a setback that is more of a mental barrier to get over. I don't think his ability is in question at all, he's clearly a talented boy. But has he got the mental strength to rise above it and get back to being the best like he used to be? It remains to be seen."

The task is for Iraola is to coax that £125m player out of Isak once more. In that sense, a first full game in a year should represent a tick in the box.

And at least the next full 90 won't be anywhere near the same sort of vitriolic reception either.