Swedish striker Isak had just one Carabao Cup goal to his name following his long-term £125 million summer move from Newcastle.
But his well-executed strike against the Hammers and Cody Gakpo’s injury-time goal lifted stuttering champions Liverpool – after a run of nine defeats in 12 games in all competitions – to a much-needed 2-0 victory.
“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 or fourth chance of the game,” said Reds head coach Slot.
“I don’t think he had much more than ten minutes to go, so scoring just before you got free was important for us, but also for him.”
Slot took drastic action in an attempt to halt their alarming decline by dropping Mohamed Salah for Isak.
It was a big decision, and the first time the Egyptian striker has been left out of the Premier League starting line-up since April 2024, including at West Ham in a 2-2 draw.
That day, Salah had a stand-up row with manager Jurgen Klopp on the touchline before leaving as a late substitute.
This time he didn’t progress at all, with Slot replacing Isak with Hugo Ekitike shortly after his goal.
“Mo has had an incredible career here at this club and will have a very good future at this club because he is such a special player,” said Slot.
“We have four matches in ten days with only fourteen to fifteen field players at our disposal. Then every now and then you have to decide to make a certain line-up and for each match you try to choose the best line-up.”
Liverpool were a worthy winner, but they were helped by West Ham, who, as is so often the case, rolled out the burgundy carpet for a team in need.
There was also a ridiculous red card for Lucas Paqueta, when the Brazilian was shown a yellow card for dissent from referee Darren England, went back for a second groan and was rightly sent off.
Hammers boss Nuno Espirito Santo said: “I think we started the game well. We needed better accuracy, crossing and shooting. But we were in the game.”
“The way we gave in was disappointing. But we kept trying until the end, yes.”
The defeat came hours after it was announced that West Ham great Billy Bonds had died.
Nuno added: “We felt like we wanted to do something different that could honor the memory of Billy Bonds, and that wasn’t to be.”
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