Alexander Isak: “A Club like Liverpool Has to Compete on All Fronts”

Most clubs head into a season with goals and targets. For some it’s simple survival in the league they’re in. For others it’s a deep cup run or perhaps European qualification. A smaller few might specifically target Champions League qualification and cup silverware. For a handful, it’s league glory that’s the goal.

And then there are the clubs in the position Liverpool find themselves in their current era. The clubs who can realistically head into a season saying they want it all—or to at least make a solid go at it. Premier League glory. Champions League glory. Domestic cup glory. Getting it is far from a given. But it is the goal and target.

“I think especially when you play for a club like Liverpool, you’ve got to compete on all fronts,” British record summer signing Alexander Isak said after scoring a goal and helping his new club to advance past Southampton in the League Cup on Tuesday evening. “That’s the goal, to be competitive in all competitions.”

So far this season, Liverpool have been living up to those goals and targets. They’re perfect after five rounds in the Premier League and have built an early five-point cushion top of the table. You may not win it in August and September, but last year’s winners have certainly built a solid foundation for a title defence.

In the Champions League, they dispatched Atletico Madrid in their first game—and while the final scoreline was close and it took a late goal for them to win it, for long stretches the Reds were downright imperious. And if Liverpool are leaving it late an awful lot in the early going, well, it’s not an entirely new thing.

Talent, hard work, and belief doesn’t add up to something especially easy to quantify, but when one of the best teams in world football keep playing and keep running and keep pushing, the opposition does tend to eventually break. Good things often happen when the best players stay committed to making them happen.

“It has kind of been frustrating seeing it from the other side,” Isak said of Liverpool’s ability under Jürgen Klopp and now Arne Slot to maintain belief and win late. “But it’s amazing to be a part of. Obviously we want to play better throughout the game but ultimately it’s about winning, then we can work on details.”

Source: liverpooloffside.sbnation.com