Alexander Isak Faces Hostile Reception in Liverpool Return

Alexander Isak hadn’t even reached the glass doors at St James’ Park before the noise found him.

His first return to Newcastle United since that £125million switch to Liverpool last September came with a soundtrack: a wall of home supporters spitting out “rat” as he darted from the team coach into the stadium. It didn’t stop there. During the warm-up the jeers rolled down from the stands, and when he headed back down the tunnel, the boos followed. Isak could only offer a thin, knowing smile.

For Liverpool, it almost felt like a provocation. Start the pantomime villain. Let him take the heat. Every early touch from the Sweden international was met with a surge of hostility, X-rated chants pouring from the Gallowgate as the game settled into its rhythm. The hostility was relentless. The ball, less so.

Isak barely saw it in a first half that did little for his confidence or Liverpool’s attacking cohesion. He drifted on the fringes, marooned between Newcastle’s lines as the visitors struggled to stitch together anything resembling fluency. On the rare occasion he did get involved, controversy followed. When what looked like a foul on the striker went unpunished by referee Stuart Attwell, the home crowd roared its approval while Isak stayed on the turf, furious and ignored.

The pattern hardly shifted after the break. When Cody Gakpo finally slipped him a genuine chance, this was the moment the away end had waited for, the one clean sight of goal their record signing craved. Isak leaned back, the ball sailed high, and St James’ Park exploded again – this time in laughter. The miss drew exactly the response you would expect from supporters who had spent the night reminding him he was no longer theirs.

For Andoni Iraola, still at the start of his Liverpool tenure, the task is obvious: he has to find a way to unlock the striker the club pushed their financial limits to sign. This was a sharp reminder of how difficult that proved under Arne Slot, even allowing for the injuries that repeatedly stalled Isak’s debut campaign at Anfield.

Florian Wirtz is supposed to be the key to that puzzle, the main supply line into Liverpool’s No.9. On this evidence, there is work to do there as well. The Germany international ran, pressed, demanded the ball, but his influence fizzled out too often. By the time he was substituted midway through the second half, his performance had promised more than it delivered.

One crumb of comfort for Isak: he stayed on. For the first time as a Liverpool player, he completed the full 90 minutes, still on the pitch when Dominik Szoboszlai stepped up to take centre stage. The Hungarian midfielder buried a dramatic late penalty to haul Liverpool level and salvage something from a bruising evening.

The equaliser did nothing to soften the mood around Isak. As the final whistle went and he made his way off the pitch, the abuse rained down again from those who had stayed behind, determined to make the most of their first chance to vent at a player they once adored.

This was not the reunion he wanted, nor the statement Liverpool hoped their record buy would make. The hostility was loud and clear. The performance, far less so. For club and striker alike, the real work of proving that £125million was money well spent has only just begun.