Liverpool have not always played well this season.

That is probably the most important starting point when assessing Alexander Isak’s early campaign.

The Swedish striker has already scored four Premier League goals in Liverpool’s opening five matches, before adding another for Sweden during the international break to make it five goals in eight appearances for club and country.

Yet Andoni Iraola still wants more.

That might sound strange when Isak has already matched and then surpassed his entire Premier League goal tally from last season, but the Liverpool manager’s demands reveal something important about how he wants his new No.9 to function.

Iraola is not simply asking Isak to score.

He wants him to help Liverpool control games.

That distinction could ultimately define the striker’s first full season at Anfield.

Liverpool’s attacking performance at Bournemouth was hardly convincing.

They managed only six shots on goal and spent long periods struggling to create sustained pressure, with Cody Gakpo, Florian Wirtz and Bradley Barcola all involved in an attack that is still developing its chemistry.

And yet Liverpool left the Vitality Stadium with three points.

Because Isak was there.

The decisive goal came in the 57th minute after Gakpo’s work down the right created the opportunity, with the ball eventually falling to Isak inside the area.

He finished calmly.

It was not the sort of goal that requires Liverpool to dominate for 90 minutes. It was the sort of goal elite strikers score when chances are limited.

That is already becoming one of Isak’s biggest values to this Liverpool team.

When the performance is imperfect, he can still change the outcome.

Liverpool saw something similar earlier in the season at Ipswich, where Isak scored twice inside the opening 10 minutes to settle the game almost immediately.

Those goals matter because Iraola’s Liverpool are not yet consistently producing the sustained attacking control the manager wants.

Isak is giving them another route.

This is where the story becomes more interesting.

After Bournemouth, Iraola was not interested in simply celebrating another Isak goal.

He wanted more.

The manager said Isak needed to help Liverpool stay closer to the opposition box, play more in the opposition half and contribute to more meaningful possession.

That is a significant demand.

Iraola does not want Liverpool’s striker waiting for the one opportunity that might fall his way.

He wants Isak involved in the process that creates those opportunities in the first place.

That means linking play.

Holding the ball.

Giving Liverpool an outlet when the press is beaten.

Helping the team push higher up the pitch.

And then, when Liverpool eventually reach the penalty area, being the player who finishes the move.

The goals are already coming.

The next stage is making Isak central to everything that happens before them.

The encouraging part for Liverpool is that Isak appears to understand exactly what Iraola is asking.

Before the Bournemouth game, he acknowledged that there were matches where he felt he should contribute more and become more involved.

That is important because Isak is not being asked to completely reinvent himself.

Liverpool signed him because of what he already was.

At Newcastle, he demonstrated that he could score from different situations, attack space, combine with teammates and create chances without needing enormous volumes of possession.

Liverpool are now trying to place those qualities inside a more aggressive collective structure.

And there are signs it can work.

His two goals at Ipswich came from different types of attacking action. The first was a powerful near-post finish after Gakpo found him inside. The second came from a more delicate piece of movement and finishing after another Gakpo delivery.

That relationship with Gakpo has already become important.

So too has Isak’s understanding with the players behind him.

His latest goal for Sweden against Romania might actually be more interesting for Liverpool than another routine goalscoring statistic.

Isak peeled away from his centre-back in the right half-space before Yasin Ayari threaded a pass into his path, allowing him to finish without breaking stride. His all-round performance was highlighted as much as the goal itself.

That movement is exactly the sort of thing Liverpool need.

Not simply Isak standing between two centre-backs waiting for service, but Isak manipulating defenders, drifting into spaces and giving teammates passing options.

There is a difference between being Liverpool’s finisher and being Liverpool’s attacking reference point.

Iraola wants the latter.

And if Isak can combine that with the ruthless finishing he has already shown, Liverpool suddenly have a striker capable of influencing games even when the team itself is not at its best.

There is another side to this.

It cannot all be placed on Isak.

Liverpool have an enormous amount of attacking talent, but Wirtz, Gakpo, Barcola, Isak and the midfielders around them are still learning exactly where they should be at different stages of an attack.

The Bournemouth performance demonstrated that clearly.

Liverpool won, but their attacking structure was far from convincing. Reuters noted the lack of cohesion despite the quality available to Iraola, with Isak’s goal ultimately masking an otherwise underwhelming attacking display.

That will improve.

It has to.

Because Isak cannot spend an entire season rescuing Liverpool from games in which the collective attack fails to function.

The objective should be for Liverpool to create more chances for Isak while simultaneously making Isak more influential in creating those chances himself.

That is the balance Iraola is chasing.

There is a temptation to look at Isak’s goals and simply declare that Liverpool have got their striker back.

The reality is slightly more interesting.

Liverpool have a striker who is already scoring despite the team around him still being unfinished.

That gives Iraola breathing room.

It means Liverpool do not necessarily need to dominate every match to win it.

It means a difficult afternoon can still produce three points.

And it means that when the rest of Liverpool’s attack eventually clicks into place, Isak could have an even greater platform to operate from.

The goals are already there.

Now Iraola wants the rest.

And if Isak can give him that too, Liverpool may have found the player capable of turning an exciting attack into a genuinely reliable one.