Liverpool told Alexander Isak 'doesn't deserve' to start ahead of back-up

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Liverpool's record signing Alexander Isak hasn't done enough to justify starting for the Reds ahead of Hugo Ekitike , according to former England star Wayne Rooney . Isak has yet to score in the Premier League since his deadline day move from Newcastle , whereas Ekitike has three in the league already - the first arriving on his debut in the competition.

Isak started against Manchester United on Sunday, playing the first 70 minutes. Ekitike came on for the final half hour of the 2-1 defeat , with the pair sharing a pitch for a limited amount of time, and Liverpool got their goal after Isak's replacement Federico Chiesa set up Cody Gakpo .

The Sweden star had a limited pre-season, and didn't feature in any matches for Newcastle before his £125m move to Liverpool. Rooney has suggested he still hasn't got up to speed, in part due to that lack of preparation ahead of the new season.

"I wouldn't play Isak, he hasn't looked ready since coming from Newcastle," Rooney said on The Wayne Rooney Show . "He hasn't trained, hasn't had a pre-season. It's so important. While Newcastle were training he was probably sat at home on the phone to his agent for six hours a day trying to get a move.

"It's so difficult when you don't have a pre-season. He might've done stuff by himself but he's paying the price of it. On performances, he doesn't deserve to be playing ahead of Ekitike."

Liverpool sat top of the Premier League table after five wins from five, but are now four points adrift of league leaders Arsenal . Their latest defeat against United was their third in a row domestically and their fourth in all competitions after a Champions League reverse at Galatasaray.

Arne Slot's team are back in European action on Wednesday, travelling to Germany to face Eintracht Frankfurt. The Dutch manager will need to decide whether to keep faith with Isak or hand Ekitike a start.

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"Of course there are concerns. If you lose four times in a row you have to have concerns, but we know if we keep bringing these types of performances then we will have a fair chance of winning more football games," Slot told Match of the Day after the latest defeat. "If we do a few things better then we will have an even better chance, but you are never 100% sure if in the next game you are again able to create eight, nine, ten open chances.

"Again these players played so long being 1-0 behind and fought to come back. If we have that mentality then there is a lot of positivity to bring into the upcoming games. Losing four times in a row definitely does something to a team."

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