Frankfurt am Main, Germany – October 22: Alexander Isak of Liverpool FC and Florian Wirtz of Liverpool FC look dejected during the UEFA Champions League 2025/26 League Phase MD3 match between Eintracht Frankfurt and Liverpool FC at Frankfurt Stadion on October 22, 2025 in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. (Photo by Harry Langer/DeFodi Images/DeFodi via Getty Images)
DeFodi Images via Getty Images
Liverpool ended a run of three defeats in a row with a 2-0 win against West Ham United in London on Sunday, and managed to get some big performances from its big signings in the process.
Liverpool’s two highest profile summer transfers, the $170 million Alexander Isak and the $134 million Florian Wirtz, had yet to really make an impression in the Premier League, with Isak having scored his only goal in the League Cup, and Wirtz yet to register a goal or an assist in league play.
That’s not to say Wirtz hasn’t been playing well in isolation. There have been flashes of the brilliant player Liverpool saw when it sent such a large fee the way of Bayer Leverkusen for his signature.
In the club’s UEFA Champions League matches it could even be said that Wirtz has been one of Liverpool’s best players, and the team missed him greatly in the defeat to PSV Eindhoven last week.
While Wirtz has shown promising performances, the same cannot yet be said of Isak.
Having missed pre-season training, he struggled to find fitness and match sharpness, and this was exacerbated when he picked up a groin injury in October which sent him back to square one in his pursuit of match fitness.
The Swede has looked out of sorts when he has featured, and has found it difficult to get himself involved in games.
A lack of involvement isn’t always a cause for concern for a center forward, though. The best striker in the Premier League, Erling Haaland, can go through games barely touching the ball, but when he does, they are telling touches, and often shots that result in goals.
Haaland will also make runs and find space even if he never receives the ball, which opens up space for others.
It’s this side of the game that Isak needs to improve upon, but his finish for the goal that put Liverpool in the driving seat against West Ham, and eventually gave them a much-needed win, was a touch of class. A sign that the impressive, Newcastle version of Isak, is still there.
Wirtz played a part in the goal, too, feeding a ball through to Cody Gakpo who then turned the ball back inside for Isak.
It was a very difficult finish for Isak to attempt first-time, and given his previous touches and recent form since returning from injury, few would have expected him to find the net from that position.
But he did, steering the ball inside the post with one touch, and giving Liverpool an advantage on the scoreboard that they had previously been struggling to find.
It was exactly the kind of contribution the club would want from such a player.
Alexander Isak of Liverpool celebrates after scoring the team’s first goal during the Premier League match between West Ham United and Liverpool at the London Stadium in Stratford, England, on November 30, 2025. (Photo by Kevin Hodgson/MI News/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
NurPhoto via Getty Images
Gakpo added a second and remains Liverpool’s most productive forward in terms of both creating and getting chances. This latest goal took him joint top of Liverpool’s Premier League goalscoring chart alongside Mohamed Salah on four.
As for Salah, he missed out against West Ham, as Liverpool manager Arne Slot adjusted his team’s shape as well as its lineup.
Dominik Szoboszlai played on the right wing in what was effectively a 4-4-2 with Wirtz off Isak, and Gakpo on the left.
Joe Gomez came in and put in an encouraging performance at right-back, looking like he could solve Liverpool’s problems in that position and allow Szoboszlai, who has regularly filled in there this season, to do other, more productive things.
The shape worked well, and the Liverpool team felt more balanced than usual. Szoboszlai suited the right-wing role even if it might not be his best or most preferred position. The Hungarian has become Liverpool’s go-to player when they need a problem solving.
There were still a few moments defensively where a better team would have capitalized when West Ham couldn’t, so there is plenty of work for Liverpool to do if it is to get back to its best. The team failed to build on its previous Premier League win, against Aston Villa at the start of November, so now the aim is to put back-to-back wins together.
Isak, meanwhile, also has plenty of work to do, but finishing half-chances as he did for his goal against West Ham will make the return to full fitness and sharpness much smoother.
The West Ham win was a rare positive for both him and Wirtz together, and it gives Slot and his team a platform from which to build.