**Alexander Isak has responded to criticism of his start to life at Liverpool.**
Isak’s time on Merseyside is yet to fully ignite following a British transfer record move from Newcastle United on the final day of the summer transfer window.
The £125 million signing has scored just one Premier League goal in his nine outings so far for Arne Slot’s side as he struggles to adapt to life with the Anfield club.
But after being awarded this year’s Guldbollen, awarded to the best player in his native Sweden, Isak hit back at suggestions he is in the toughest spell of his career.
“I don’t really have the answer to that (why it’s been slow),” he told Sportbladet.
“The team – of course it has been slow, but that’s how it is in football. There are always teams that fly, and then it goes slower for others. It is important to turn it around.
“For my part too, it’s not the first time in my career that I’ve gone through a period like this, or I’m in bad shape. That’s how a football career works.
“It’s just something you have to fight your way out of.”
He added: “I don’t know \[what period has been toughest so far\]. I wouldn’t pick any one, it’s all experience. Good, bad.
“And I’ve had tougher periods in every team I’ve been in, except for the loan in Holland (Willem II). In Dortmund, in Spain, in Newcastle and here.
“I’m not too focused on just that, on where it’s been the toughest. I see it as experiences that hopefully make me come out on the other side as a better person and player.
“We football players live in a different world than on the outside. We don’t reflect so much, we don’t judge so much.
“I don’t judge so much during the season, that also applies when everything is flowing. It’s about evaluating after the season, there’s no need to think so much in the meantime.
“I want to be able to look back on my football career and be proud of what I have achieved. Not only on the pitch, but experiences from the countries I have played in.”