Eddie Howe was very impressed with one of his Newcastle United player’s performances yesterday against Manchester City despite a narrow defeat.
Newcastle went toe-to-toe with the greatest team in world football at the moment and were so close to picking up a crucial point thanks to some brilliant goals from Anthony Gordon and Alexander Isak.
In his interview after the match, Howe claimed he was particularly impressed with Isak’s performance during the first half, though admitted he would have liked to have gotten him more involved in the second.
Howe says Isak was ‘outstanding’ vs City
By now we all know the talent that the Swedish international possesses and we’ve seen flashes of absolute brilliance since he signed for £63m last summer, but it’s been keeping him fit that is often the issue.
Howe even admitted after the game that he’s still working his way to being 100%, but with Callum Wilson out with an injury there’s nobody available to give him a rest every now and then.
Having said that, Isak could have had a hat-trick against City and you could actually argue that he scored the hardest chance he got with a brilliant strike into the top corner after a lovely weighted ball from Bruno Guimaraes.
Isak truly does have the potential to be one of the best strikers in the world and has already reached double figures in the Premier League, so now it is about playing at that level on a consistent basis.
After the game, Howe said: “Alex is an outstanding individual His goal today was at the highest level.
“I thought that when he had his highest energy his overall performance was outstanding. I thought he was a constant menace for them.
“He showed his ability to run he showed his ability to link play he showed his ability to finish.
“I’m just disappointed that we couldn’t get him in more dangerous situations in that second half because I’m sure he could’ve made the difference for us.”
Newcastle need to get back on track quickly
Realistically the team are still just two points away from finishing in a European position, albeit a place in the Conference League, and that can still be success for Newcastle.
Howe will really be starting to feel the pressure and especially so if Newcastle go the rest of January without a win and get knocked out of the FA Cup by Fulham at the end of the month.
There were hopes that Howe would have more players available returning from injury, but that doesn’t look like it’s going to happen any time soon and there’s just not enough in the budget to sign any major additions.
So, what Newcastle may have to rely on is more individual brilliance from the likes of Isak and hope for Howe’s sake that he can replicate the form he’s showed in the last couple of weeks against City and Sunderland.
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