Nightmare for Alexander Isak and Anthony Elanga
Six months ago, Sweden were being heavily talked about as not only a safe pick to qualify for the 2026 World Cup, but as a potential dark horse to enjoy a deep run in the competition.
With Alexander Isak and Viktor Gyokeres each coming off the best goalscoring seasons in their careers, and excellent options in attack like then-Nottingham Forest star Anthony Elanga and Spurs’ Dejan Kulusevski, this Sweden team looked to be a serious threat.
However, last night saw Sweden's World Cup hopes take another huge blow, seeing Isak berated online after his lack of form or fitness has contributed to his country's struggles during such a crucial period.
A few days on from Sweden's 2-0 defeat to Switzerland, Kosovo's 1-0 win in Stockholm on Monday night leaves the Swede's rock bottom of Group B and on just one point after four games.
With Elanga consigned to the bench for the second game in a week, and Isak still yet to find his scoring boots since his move to Liverpool, our new £55m winger and Emil Krafth are now on the brink of missing out in North America next year.
For Isak, another blank takes him up to one goal in his last eight games since joining Liverpool. Where Nick Woltemade has scored four goals in his last five, Isak hasn't scored once in that period, losing five in a row for club and country.
Karma? His selfishness over the summer is now costing his country, but Elanga isn't laughing...
Why isn’t Anthony Elanga starting for Sweden?
Naturally, with how Sweden set up under Jon Dahl Tomasson, not all of their attacking options can be given an opportunity to start.
On paper, Tomasson would face far more questions if he didn’t start either Isak or Gyokeres, but it was a surprise to see the winger on the bench for both of their games against Switzerland and Kosovo this past week.
Elanga did struggle against Nottingham Forest in our final game before the international break. However, he was superb in our 4-0 win over Union SG two weeks ago, delivering his best display yet in a black and white shirt.
In his two starts in qualifying so far, Elanga does indeed have a goal to his name, and he made an impact last night, creating FOUR chances during his 45-minute cameo.
But, in the end, it's been a nightmare break for him, Isak and Krafth, with one benched for both games, our former striker missing big chances to score in both games and Krafth left out of the squad entirely.
All jokes aside, Liverpool fans best get used to this.
How many times did we see similar wild finishes where Isak lashes at the ball when it comes to him in the box.
Or one on one's where he fluffs his lines.
He's been found out.#NUFC #LFC #Sweden
pic.twitter.com/oKGmIR0dA4— 𝗠𝗼𝘂𝘁𝗵 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗧𝘆𝗻𝗲 #NUFC (@ToonMouthTyne) October 13, 2025
