Eddie Howe fielded 22 players at Celtic Park during Newcastle United’s 4-0 defeat to the Scottish Champions on Saturday.
Despite that, there were four big notable absences in the form of Tino Livramento, Lewis Hall, Joelinton and of course, Alexander Isak.
While it had been made clear several times that Joelinton and Alexander Isak are both fit, they were being rested as part of a plan to manage their minutes to make sure they’re both fully ready for Aston Villa next month.
However, the real questions started to arise when it was revealed that Alexander Isak had been sent home and wasn’t with the squad in Scotland.
Eddie Howe made the decision to send Alexander Isak home
Eddie Howe later confirmed to reporters that he had made the decision to send Isak home, noting that all the speculation wasn’t helping his mental state, and sitting in the stands watching his teammates play while everyone would be trying to get answers from him was probably not going to help that.
While it seems like a good idea by Howe, many fans are pointing out that it seems like Isak’s head is being turned by all of the Liverpool links, with Keith Downie noting that it feels very much like the Anthony Gordon situation last year.
Similarly, in that situation, Howe is very confident that Isak will be a Newcastle player when the season gets underway. While the gaffer couldn’t give a 100% guarantee, because ‘this is football’, he gave his assurances as best he could. Howe told reporters as much at full time (via The iPaper).
“All I can say is that Alex is happy at Newcastle. He loves the players that he plays with, the staff, the team. I’ve never had any issue with him, other than really enjoying seeing his talent and seeing him express himself.
“Certainly, I’m confident that he’s going to be here at the start of the season.”
The cracks are starting to show
Obviously, the Liverpool-biased media are salivating, thinking that this is a huge indication that Isak wants to join Liverpool.
We still believe Isak will be at Newcastle next season, but we’d be mad to think that the cracks aren’t beginning to show.
Our biggest fear, beyond him leaving, obviously, is that, like Gordon last season, his head will have disappeared so far up his rectum, he’ll be a shadow of his former self all season.
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