{"id":202028,"date":"2025-11-26T23:36:17","date_gmt":"2025-11-26T23:36:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/202028\/"},"modified":"2025-11-26T23:36:17","modified_gmt":"2025-11-26T23:36:17","slug":"hugo-ekitike-causes-liverpool-fans-to-flood-social-media-with-clear-message-after-psv","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/202028\/","title":{"rendered":"Hugo Ekitike causes Liverpool fans to flood social media with clear message after PSV"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Arne Slot dropped Alexander Isak to the bench in favour of Hugo Ekitike when Liverpool faced off with PSV in the Champions League.<\/strong><\/p>\n

This past weekend saw the Swede make his long-awaited return from injury against Nottingham Forest.<\/p>\n

However, Isak had little impact<\/a> in the defeat, and it came as little surprise to see the striker lose his place against PSV.<\/p>\n

\"mailJoin our newsletter for news & smart analysis. Who was Liverpool\u2019s worst player against PSV Eindhoven? \"VirgilPhoto by Stu Forster\/Getty Images <\/p>\n

Virgil van Dijk made a big error<\/a> early in the tie, but after the Dutchman cost Liverpool<\/a> a goal, Arne Slot\u2019s men looked much improved and began to apply heavy pressure before eventually getting a goal back via Dominik Szoboszlai.<\/p>\n

While Szoboszlai scored the equaliser and was among the Reds\u2019 better performers on the night, Hugo Ekitike<\/a> was also in top form.<\/p>\n

\"HugoPhoto by Paul ELLIS \/ AFP via Getty ImagesLiverpool fans urge Arne Slot to start Hugo Ekitike over Alexander Isak<\/p>\n

The Frenchman\u2019s off-ball movement and ability to link the attacking play was light years ahead of what we saw from Isak<\/a> against Forest.<\/p>\n

In turn, fans have now flooded social media to express their views that Ekitike should be their main number nine going forward.<\/p>\n

One fan stated: \u201cHow can Slot look at this and think he has to start Isak to \u2018get fit\u2019. You earn your place in training. Ekitike has been electric and deserves to be our starting striker.\u201d<\/p>\n

A second wrote: \u201cEkitike is astronomically clear of Isak,\u201d with a third claiming: \u201cEkitike should be starting over Isak.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHate this or not, Ekitike is a better footballer than Isak. What a bargain he should be starting instead of Isak,\u201d added another Liverpool fan.<\/p>\n

A fifth tweeted: \u201cAlso, Ekitike is head and shoulders above Isak,\u201d while another echoed: \u201cThey have to find a way to facilitate Ekitike, Wirtz and Isak. If that\u2019s not possible, you start with Ekitike and build around him because currently he\u2019s streets ahead!\u201d<\/p>\n

How Arne Slot plans to play Hugo Ekitike and Alexander Isak together<\/p>\n

While fans want the former Eintracht Frankfurt centre-forward to lead the line going forward, there is no way Isak will just be left on the bench.<\/p>\n

He is the new British transfer record, and though it probably shouldn\u2019t, that alone means Slot has to play him regularly.<\/p>\n

The Liverpool manager has already explained how Isak and Ekitike could play together<\/a>, suggesting the latter could be used out wide or in a deeper role.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cHugo could also play off the left in my opinion or maybe around Alex where Alex is more of a out and out, is I think the way you say it, out and out nine.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s just the finisher of the attacks, could drop into midfield.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut Hugo is yeah, maybe more a player that also likes to drop more in spaces coming off the left, where Alex I think prefers to be in the middle.\u201d<\/p>\n

There may be one issue with that plan, however, as Ekitike was poor for France<\/a> in a recent international fixture when deployed on the left wing.<\/p>\n

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Receive a digest of our best Liverpool content each week direct to your mailbox<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Arne Slot dropped Alexander Isak to the bench in favour of Hugo Ekitike when Liverpool faced off with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":202029,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[1268,9,10,18,13,14,6,2444,19,17,11,12,15,16,5,7,8],"class_list":{"0":"post-202028","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-alexander-isak","9":"tag-breaking-news","10":"tag-breakingnews","11":"tag-eire","12":"tag-featured-news","13":"tag-featurednews","14":"tag-headlines","15":"tag-hugo-ekitike","16":"tag-ie","17":"tag-ireland","18":"tag-latest-news","19":"tag-latestnews","20":"tag-main-news","21":"tag-mainnews","22":"tag-news","23":"tag-top-stories","24":"tag-topstories"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115618630046876732","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/202028","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=202028"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/202028\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/202029"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=202028"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=202028"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=202028"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}