Liverpool struggled to cause Sunderland a lot of problems for large periods of their Premier League clash.
The Reds kept mostly the same eleven from the West Ham United win for the midweek action, with Andy Robertson for Milos Kerkez the only change.
Mohamed Salah was dropped again, but after a drab first half, the Egyptian was brought on for Cody Gakpo, with Florian Wirtz shifted out to the left.
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Meanwhile, after scoring his first Premier League goal against West Ham, Alexander Isak was once again selected over Hugo Ekitike up front.
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Florian Wirtz pictured during Liverpool's Premier League match against Sunderland at Anfield.
Photo by Paul ELLIS / AFP via Getty Images
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Liverpool players donât understand Alexander Isak yet
While the Swede got up and running this past weekend, he saw very little of the ball in that game, and Wednesday was a similar story.
At the end of the first 45, Sky Sports Newsâ Vinny OâConnor said: âI dread to think how sparse Isakâs touch map is so far.
âIn fairness, heâs had little to no service in a first half performance thatâs lacked any real verve from the hosts.â
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A fair point backed up by the striker only completing one pass before the half-time whistle.
Liverpoolâs attack as a whole was poor, and itâs clear Slotâs players are still not accustomed to playing with a proper number nine.
Alan Shearer told the Reds what they must do with the ex-Newcastle United man in their team when speaking on The Rest Is Football this week.
He said: âI guess itâs a bit of both, and theyâre going to have to play earlier balls into him. Because a lot of it is off-the-cuff, what Alex does.
âItâs not just for him, but any striker. Youâve got to get the ball into the box early when youâve got an opportunity to do it.
âAnd they just gave one or two chances up to do that, and I was thinking, âOh, come on!â To get the best out of him and any forward, youâve got to do that.â
Isak scored 23 goals in 34 Premier League games for Newcastle last term and if Liverpool want him to notch similar numbers at Anfield, his teammates will have to form a better connection with the 26-year-old.
Alexander Isak walks out ahead of Liverpool's Premier League match against Nottingham Forest at Anfield
Photo by Liverpool FC/Liverpool FC via Getty Images
Alexander Isak will likely be benched vs Leeds United
Regardless of how he played tonight, it seems clear the centre-forward wonât start against Leeds on Saturday.
Isak did not have a proper pre-season and has not been back from injury for that long.
Three starts in six days would be a lot for any player, never mind one still lacking some match sharpness.
His absence shouldnât be a huge problem for Liverpool, though, as Ekitike remains their top goalscorer with six this term and, in truth, didnât do an awful lot wrong to warrant being dropped.
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