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Selfless reaction of Isak shows United have a special talent

CIARAN KELLY Football writer ciaran.kelly@reachplc.com @CiaranKelly_

THE bad news for Newcastle United’s rivals is that Alexander Isak is just getting started. Isak is becoming fitter, sharper and stronger with every passing week and displaying the ‘electric’ qualities that had long excited staff behind the scenes in training.

You only have to look at the variety of Isak’s goals in the last week, alone, to realise that. The Sweden international has scored three of Newcastle’s last four goals in the Premier League to reignite the Magpies’ Champions League push and each finish has showcased a different side to his game.

There was the typical striker’s header against Wolves; the superb improvised volley at Nottingham Forest; and, finally, a nerveless penalty to win that game at the City Ground in the 93rd minute. It could yet prove a defining five days not only in Newcastle’s season, but in Isak’s career on Tyneside, too, as the record signing becomes the main man up top.

The numbers tell their own story. Isak may have played just 10 league games for the club, due to injury, but of those players who have scored at least five goals in the top-flight this season, only Man City superstar Erling Haaland has a better minutes per goal ratio than the striker, who has netted every 103.7 minutes. It is easy to forget the experienced Sweden international is still just 23 having already played in five European leagues. Can you put a ceiling on a talent like this?

“I personally don’t believe so,” Newcastle boss Eddie Howe told reporters. “There’s so much more that he is capable of giving.

“We knew we were signing a top, top player capable of doing amazing things. He showed that today, but I do believe there are areas of his game - and I will believe this with every player - that we can improve. He’s got a huge part to play in our future.”

What will have really encouraged Howe on Friday night was how Isak was still affecting the game past the hour mark as the summer arrival completed a rare 90 minutes.

It said it all about Isak’s display that the striker even turned creator for Elliot Anderson midway through the second half, when his scooped cross picked out the youngster’s head at the back post. However, the goal was disallowed after Sean Longstaff was controversially deemed to have been offside in the build-up

Yet Newcastle kept going and when Moussa Niakhate handled inside the box at the death, there was only going to be one man who was going to take the penalty - even if Kieran Trippier picked up the ball initially in an effort to take the pressure off his team-mate.

Isak was the coolest man in the stadium when he eventually stepped up in the 93rd minute, which won’t have come as a surprise to anyone who has worked with him.

Isak, after all, is a calm figure who, while confident, is not aloof or arrogant. As former team-mate Henok Goitom previously told The Journal:

“Alex is just a humble guy. It doesn’t matter where he is.

“He could win the World Cup and the way he acts would be the same. The fame doesn’t go to his head.”

Those are qualities you don’t always associate with a £63m signing. Yet it said it all that when Isak was asked to move out to the left in the first half, because Allan Saint-Maximin was struggling with a tight hamstring, the striker selflessly did so for the team without a second thought. On the subject of mentality, Isak has embraced the mundane responsibilities he has as a lone striker, whether leading the press or running the channels. And there is still so much more to come.

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2023-03-20T07:00:00.0000000Z

2023-03-20T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://thejournal.pressreader.com/article/282273849604175

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