Alexander Isak and Florian Wirtz were both booed – for different reasons – while playing for their countries on Monday night, with the Swede left furious in defeat.
As the two biggest signings in British football history, it is no surprise Isak and Wirtz are attracting more intense scrutiny.
They have remained under the microscope during the international break, and for Isak that has come in a remarkably poor run of form for Sweden.
A 1-0 defeat to Kosovo on Monday night means Jon Dahl Tomasson’s side are all but guaranteed to miss out on a place at next summer’s World Cup.
Their only hope is that they beat Switzerland and Slovenia in their final two qualifiers next month and other results go their way, but a side with one point from four games so far is not expected to even reach the playoffs.
Isak played the full 90 minutes for a second time in four days and was among those booed as he left the field in Gothenburg.
Isak accepts boos
“We players are so fucking dissatisfied,” he told DN after the game.
“And as I’ve said before, we take a lot of responsibility ourselves. We look at ourselves in the mirror.
“No one approves. Not us players, not us as a team. And that of course includes the coach and everything around, but those questions [on Tomasson’s future], we don’t get involved in them.”
On the crowd’s response, Isak added: “It’s not fun. It’s not fun to be booed.
“At the same time, you can’t demand much more. We have underperformed enormously. It’s sad that we are in this situation.”
Wirtz rated poorly on return to UK
Meanwhile in Belfast, Wirtz again started for Germany as they took on a Northern Ireland side playing without the suspended Conor Bradley.
Germany scraped a 1-0 win through Nick Woltemade’s first-half strike but were far from convincing, with Wirtz booed by the home supporters at Windsor Park after being adjudged to have dived in the penalty area.
He was given a squad-low grade of four (with one being the best and five the worst) by BILD while only Leon Goretzka (4) and Karim Adeyemi (4.5) were given a worse rating by focus.de, who graded Wirtz a 3.5.
“Someone needs to hand him a ladder so he can get himself out of this slump,” wrote Suddeutsche Zeitung‘s Martin Schneider.
“Anyone who knows Bayer Leverkusen‘s Wirtz will wonder what they actually did with this footballer in Liverpool. Back in the United Kingdom, he seems to have lost confidence again.”
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