Newcastle’s strong-arm response to Liverpool’s attempt to take their best player started a few hours before kick-off, on a leafy residential street in Northumberland.
If that meeting between the club’s top brass and Alexander Isak at the striker’s home was meant to be hush-hush, there was nothing discrete about what lay in wait at St James’ Park.
‘Get into them’ was the instruction of the Wor Flags banner in the East Stand, like a bugle call before the charge. And so, Newcastle did. They got into them, up them and around them. The home side were never going to park the bus against the country’s best team – instead, they tried to hit the visitors with a black-and-white fleet of them.
If Isak has achieved one thing by his actions this summer, it is that the players he wants to be his new team-mates will be waking up with some bloodied souvenirs from their trip to Tyneside. Because in riling those with whom he used to share a dressing-room – Isak remains on strike – he played his part in the moment that helped Liverpool on their way to victory, Anthony Gordon’s first-half dismissal.
But even though Isak is refusing to play, 10-man Newcastle refused to lie down. From 0-2 to 2-2, this was a miraculous comeback that the Toon Army can only hope is replicated by Isak’s own return to their number. It stung when Liverpool snatched a win in the 100th minute.
There was standing ovation for the home heroes, but they still need Isak. When Gordon’s red mist descended in first-half injury-time, the upshot was a red card. He scraped his studs down the calf of Virgil van Dijk, but the reality was he had shot his own team in the foot.
Rio Ngumoha snatched victory for Liverpool after Newcastle had fought back from 2-0 down
Anthony Gordon shot his own team in the foot when he was sent off for a reckless lunge on Virgil van Dijk
Newcastle desperately need Alexander Isak in the side – and there is a way back for the star
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That is Gordon, the makeshift striker who is currently the only senior player Howe can use in the hole left by Isak. He will now miss three matches. And he had done well to that point, a blonde ball of fury and fire. All of that made way for futility when he was dismissed by referee Simon Hooper.
Liverpool were already 1-0 up and, were it not for Gordon’s indiscretion, the half-time analysis might as well have been a rerun of last weekend’s opening-day draw at Aston Villa – played well, did not score.
A blind man on a galloping horse can see what Newcastle are missing – and if he could hop off and cause havoc in the six-yard box, he might well get a game. Saying that, William Osula – who poked in for 2-2 in the 88th minute – could yet be that man in the interim.
But there was already a desperate need to persuade Isak to return to the squad before a ball had been kicked, which is why co-owner Jamie Reuben and director Jacobo Solis, of PIF, spoke to him yesterday afternoon in his living-room. The nature of two points left behind at Aston Villa, followed by another week without a new striker, means that the world-class one they already have must be told he is going nowhere.
The idea that he would not be welcomed by supporters surely went out of the window here – they will have him back through the front door, and so would his team-mates.
Yes, it would need some careful PR – apologies and the like – but it would be those of a Newcastle persuasion soon saying ‘thank you’ if Isak started doing what he does best. Catches win matches and goals win games. The frustration is that the fella who has scored 62 of them for the club is currently training alone in the early-evening sun. They need him back in the heat of the battle at 3pm.
Such was the absence of any presence in the centre-forward position after Gordon was sent off – before Osula’s introduction, at least – there were discussions in the press box and beyond of Joelinton being sent back up front. It had come to something when the idea of returning the big cat midfielder to a position in which he had previously played like a kitten was gathering genuine support. Something is better than nothing being the logic.
Eddie Howe’s side have played well enough to win both of their opening matches but only have only point to show for their efforts
Even with 11 men, though, chances came and chances went, just as they did at Villa. Gordon had a trio of headers that went close and the front three, completed by wingers Harvey Barnes and Anthony Elanga, were a nuisance. But for Liverpool, it was an itch that was satisfied by a scratch. It was only when chaos took charge in the second half that they became distressed.
And that is the worry for a Newcastle side who have started the season with spirit and cohesion despite a nightmare summer – they have played well enough to win both of their opening matches. What they need is a striker. What they need is a goalscorer. What they need is Alexander Isak to swap his living-room for the dressing-room.
