Chelsea legend Frank Leboeuf insists that Liverpool striker Alexander Isak was “appalling” in their 2-0 win over West Ham in the Premier League on Sunday.

The Reds have been going through a very tough patch of results with Arne Slot’s defending champions losing nine of their last 12 matches in all competitions before their trip to east London.

Liverpoolspent a fortune on new players over the summer transfer window but most of them have failed to shine as the Reds look to retain the Premier League.

However, things looked a bit brighter on Sunday with Liverpool overcoming the Hammers 2-0 to move up to eighth in the Premier League table, four points off second-placed Manchester City.

Isak opened the scoring on 60 minutes with a clinical finish before Cody Gakpo knocked in a second to secure the three points in second half injury time.

Despite his goal, Leboeuf was not impressed by Isak’s performance against West Ham and reckons Hugo Ekitike is likely to be “very upset” at starting on the bench.

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Leboeuf told ESPN:?“Even if Isak scored a goal, for one hour, he was appalling for me.

“If I am Ekitike, my [French] compatriot, I would be very upset because when he came on, we saw the difference. His involvement, his technique, the chances he can create for the team,; I would be very sad. OK, my price tag is less than Isak’s but my performances are better.

“OK, Isak scored. Good, it saves his performance but that wasn’t enough. It was funny to see him being surprised to be substituted. It was only fair to Ekitike. I was happy to see [Joe] Gomez back but it’s against West Ham so you don’t really know and Florian Wirtz, I’m pretty sure he will bring something. He has so much talent and every time he touches the ball, something is going to happen. One day, he is going to know how to play the Liverpool music and will be very good.”

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Liverpool boss Arne Slot feels the criticism of Isak so far this season has been unfair, he said:?“That’s also a bit unfair to him because normally as a No.9, I think in general a No.9 plays more minutes than I’ve played Alex until now – because of the obvious reasons. So even today I had to take him off after 65, I think.

“So yes, he’s already played quite a lot of games but in terms of minutes not so much. And it’s very important for us as a team that we went 1-0 up, but I think it was also important for him because I think it was his third chance, fourth of this game, and I don’t think there was much more than 10 minutes in him to go. So to score just before you come off was important for us but also for him.”

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