Isak's Alarm After Liverpool's Anfield Draw Stalls Iraola Era

Alexander Isak walked off Anfield with a goal, a roar from the Kop and a knot in his stomach.

Liverpool had just clawed their way to a 2-2 draw against Forest in a wild, uneven contest on Saturday, yet the mood from their new No 9 was anything but celebratory. A point, yes. A performance to build a title challenge on? Not yet.

The draw leaves Liverpool still hunting for their first league win under Andoni Iraola, and the early-season patience around a bold tactical reset is already being tested on Merseyside.

“Fighting spirit isn’t the problem”

Isak cut through the noise in his post-match assessment. He praised the character. He questioned everything else.

“I think there’s no problem in fighting spirit and never giving up. I think we showed that last week as well,” he told TNT Sports. “Obviously we started the game pretty bad today as well. When we gained momentum by scoring a goal, that’s where we need to be better, I think, because again today we conceded quite quickly after that.”

That, in a sentence, is Liverpool right now: emotionally charged, tactically loose, and unable to hold the game once they finally grab it by the throat.

Slow start, frantic middle

The afternoon began in a flat, disjointed blur for Iraola’s side. The patterns the Spaniard wants were nowhere to be seen in the opening exchanges. Forest sensed it immediately.

Dan Ndoye struck midway through the first half, silencing Anfield and exposing a Liverpool back line that still looks unsure when asked to defend in transition. The goal felt inevitable, the response less so.

Liverpool’s reply came on the hour. Isak, carrying the weight of a new era up front, finished clinically to drag his team level and jolt the stadium back to life. The noise surged, the tempo rose, the momentum finally swung red.

Then it slipped away again.

Barely had Liverpool settled into their new-found rhythm when Morgan Gibbs-White restored Forest’s lead from the penalty spot. The air went out of Anfield a second time. For all the talk of Iraola’s high-intensity blueprint, Liverpool still look alarmingly open the moment they over-commit.

A late equaliser rescued a point and the crowd, but not the narrative. This was rescue, not control.

Weight of the shirt, weight of the role

Isak knows exactly what he has walked into. He has not just replaced a striker; he has stepped into the role of focal point for a team trying to reinvent itself on the fly.

Asked whether he feels more responsibility this season, he didn’t duck it.

“Yeah, of course. That’s the job ultimately as a striker,” he said. “Obviously I’m very happy to score the first one and hopefully it just keeps coming.”

He quickly turned away from any talk of personal targets.

“Not really. I think every striker wants to score in every game he plays.”

The message was clear: his goals mean little if Liverpool keep surrendering control in the very moments when matches should tilt decisively in their favour.

Iraola’s ideas still in transit

The shift from the previous regime to Iraola’s aggressive, high-energy game has dominated discussion around Anfield since the summer. On days like this, the scale of that transition is laid bare.

The former Bournemouth and Rayo Vallecano coach demands relentless running and strict tactical discipline, both with and without the ball. Liverpool have shown flashes of it in these opening weeks, but the system still stutters under pressure.

Isak accepts the adjustment period, but he also knows the Premier League rarely waits.

“It’s been good. There’s always time to get used to a new playing style and a new manager,” he said. “But we are really working hard to try to play the game he wants us to play and I think when we start doing that better, I have no doubt that the results will come.”

For now, the results are teasing rather than convincing. The structure is half-built; the chaos is very real.

Anfield still roars

One constant remains: Anfield’s refusal to turn down the volume, even when the football frays.

Isak, playing his first league game back at home this season, lit up when asked about the atmosphere.

“It was amazing. I think our fans were amazing. Really happy to be back here at home and I can’t wait to be back here again,” he said, clearly energised by the Kop’s backing during a breathless, if flawed, performance.

The support is there. The belief, too. What’s missing is a defence that can withstand the counter-punch and a team that can stay on top once it has wrestled control of a game.

Liverpool’s next test comes away at Ipswich Town in midweek. For Iraola and Isak, the question is no longer whether the fight is there. It is whether this new Liverpool can finally turn that defiance into a first league win – and a season that starts moving in the direction they keep insisting it will.