Soccer Football - Premier League - Liverpool v Newcastle United - Anfield, Liverpool, Britain - August 31, 2022 Newcastle United's Alexander Isak
The Athletic’s Chris Waugh has admitted to being wrong about Alexander Isak after he starred in Newcastle United’s win last weekend.
The Lowdown: Proving the doubters wrong
After arriving in the summer for a club-record fee of £63m, a lot may have been expected of Isak to take Newcastle to the very top, but with just a handful of league starts under his belt, it certainly hasn’t been easy for the Sweden international.
Isak has had to deal with several injury setbacks during his short spell on Tyneside thus far, but he’s still been able to showcase what he’s capable of despite his limited minutes, having netted four goals within his six starts in the Premier League.
He was given the nod ahead of Callum Wilson against Wolves and he certainly didn’t let Eddie Howe down, earning the Player of the Match award and netting the first goal of the match with a brilliant header.
The Latest: Isak could now be the man for Newcastle
After taking in Isak’s stunning St James’ Park display on Sunday, Waugh admitted on Pod on the Tyne that Isak has proved him wrong in terms of what he’s capable of against teams who will naturally sit deeper against the Magpies.
He said: “It was an excellent performance. I’ll hold my hands up – I doubted last week whether this was the game for Alexander Isak; I thought that to get him in so he could play the runs down the channels that he does, one of the recent away games was maybe the time to do that.
“But I didn’t know if Wolves at St James’ would be; I thought that they would sit deep and he would maybe struggle in that regard, and I was completely wrong and he was excellent.”
The Verdict: Huge selection dilemma for Howe
The fact that Wilson has been the undisputed first-choice striker since he walked through the doors at Newcastle may well have led to his recent slump in form, as he’d perhaps got complacent, though he has arguably not had competition as good as Isak on Tyneside.
But after being dropped against Wolves, it may well make Wilson realise that he’s indeed competing against an international striker in the form of Isak, who can perform against the bigger teams such as Liverpool as well as lesser teams such as Wolves and Bournemouth.
Isak will be hoping that he can build on his monster performance against Wolves, where he looked ‘razor-sharp‘, this Friday away from home – while there should be no doubt about him starting, or it could shatter his confidence.
About the Author
