Newcastle United’s Alexander Isak has made 40 appearances for Sweden, managing nine goals and five assists in the process.
The striker’s last goal for his country came against Greece in October 2021, and he’s talked about how he can improve his goalscoring record for the national team.
“I’m aware of that. That’s something I want to change, but if you focus on the team’s performance and start winning games, it’ll help me too,” he said, as quoted by Sydsvenskan.
Earlier this week, Sweden manager Janne Andersson urged the Newcastle star to take more responsibility on the pitch.
Sweden are third in the European qualifiers table, trailing second place Belgium by four points and six behind leaders Austria, who have played one more game. They have managed only two wins from their last 10 competitive fixtures.
The 23-year-old was asked if he’s tired of repeated requests from Andersson to take more responsibility.
“It’s not really a problem. It’s not something that bothers me. It hasn’t gone so well for me and the team and we have a responsibility to change things,” Isak explained.
The national team manager has even asked the Magpies frontman to be a “player we should be able to rely on”,
When asked what exactly Andersson meant by this, Isak said: “You can interpret it yourself. Take a little more responsibility and it goes hand in hand with performance.”
The frontman, who has two goals from four games for Newcastle this season, believes he needs to improve his own form in order to help his teammates. Isak has also suggested how Sweden can get out of the difficult situation soon.
“There, I have my own responsibility to change the situation,” the Newcastle player added.
“There are many who do incredibly well in the club team. Then it’s not that simple to just throw them all in at the same time. If we get it done as a team, we can be very dangerous. We haven’t reached our maximum potential yet.”
