For Newcastle, absence makes the heart grow angrier, not fonder. With Alexander Isak in the team, they would have won here at Aston Villa.
Eddie Howe, remarkably on the back of such a disorderly summer, had everything primed for an opening-day heist. The problem was, the getaway driver was at home on Tyneside – or Spain, or Sweden, or wherever he chooses to be this weekend.
The one place he did not want to be was with his team-mates, and his manager, and the staff who have made him one of the world’s best strikers. He is currently the most famous striker in world football all right, albeit of the refusing-to-come-to-work variety.
And that means, for Howe, Isak is both the problem and the solution. There will be anger after this, perhaps more so than a longing for his return. Even if he agrees to train and play tomorrow – which he won’t – the two points lost at Villa Park will never be retrieved. The club-record fine that is coming Isak’s way won’t be nearly enough should those points prove the difference between finishing positions come May.
‘There’s only one greedy b******’ sang the away fans on full-time. And the frustration for them is that their team played with the hunger to open the season with a deserved win. They were the better side with the game’s best players, Sandro Tonali and Dan Burn, in particular.
But it felt as if they had turned up for a game of poker with nothing higher than an eight – what they really needed was a nine. There is no other way to dress it up, Isak would have scored from one of the 16 shots his team had here.
Alexander Isak was nowhere to be seen as Newcastle opened their Premier League campaign with a goalless draw against Nottingham Forest
Eddie Howe’s side dominated at Villa Park but were clearly lacking an attacking focal point
It must be said, though, his team-mates should have done far better with many of those anyway. Isak or no Isak, Premier League and international footballers can still show better composure and execution than Newcastle did. It says a lot that seven of those efforts were blocked, and only three of them found the target.
The positives for Howe were everything until the point of putting the ball in the net. His team did look like Newcastle ‘United’, as was his demand and wish after a divisive summer. They set up camp in Villa’s half but spent the entire afternoon searching for the mallet.
Chances came and chances went. Each time, you could sense the growing anguish of Howe and assistant Jason Tindall on the touchline. The story they feared would unfold – play well, don’t score – did, and there was an inevitability to it from the very start.
First, it was Anthony Elanga, through on goal just three minutes into his Newcastle career. It was as if the chance had come too soon and the winger never looked convincing, evidenced by a shot that was all too comfortable for Marco Bizot to save.
Then, it was Anthony Gordon, found unmarked by Harvey Barnes on the edge of the six-yard area. A free header morphed into a free shoulder, so untidy was the connection. The ball looped over the crossbar.
Howe was at pains to stress afterwards that Gordon had played well, and that was fair. His pace forced the red card of Ezri Konsa in the 66th minute. But his only goal as a centre-forward for Newcastle remains a penalty. His attributes are better served in wide areas, and from there he looks a much more likely scorer.
During the final half hour against 10 men, Newcastle had just one shot on target, and that was a speculative Gordon effort from range. They could have played all day and the only thing that would have gone in was the sun.
Howe says they have to find a way to score without Isak, but that feels like baking a cake without flour. When it comes to it, they just cannot rise to that challenge. It was the same last season in the handful of games he missed.
Anthony Gordon was tasked with leading the line for the Magpies in the absence of the Swede
Newcastle must now look to bring in a new striker with Isak seemingly determined on joining Liverpool
So, if Isak isn’t going to return, a new striker must be bought, because the mere presence of a specialist forward, you suspect, will ease the weight on others.
Barnes, for example, found the top tier with a shot from a position in which he usually finds the top corner. Was that the pressure of knowing his late chance was going to be their best shot at winning the game?
Gordon, too, was guilty of a clumsy touch in the penalty area when his control is ordinarily second nature. As long as Isak is not there, he is there, his absence an omnipresent source of doubt and distraction.
Howe wants a resolution to the situation as soon as possible, be that by Isak’s return or his sale and replacements brought in. Because for now, the phantom striker is haunting his club.
