Newcastle are still a team and a fierce collective. They just need a striker

New York Times

17 hours ago

And so it goes that the summer of 2025 was actually a small deception. At 12.30pm on Saturday, August 16, in the buzz and tumult of Villa Park, Eddie Howe and his players ripped off their masks and revealed themselves for who they truly are: a team.
They may also be a team lacking a striker, but a performance of pace and character, gilded with flashes of quality, was a firm response to the prevailing narrative that everything is about Alexander Isak. It is not. A team is a collective, and Newcastle's collective remains fierce.
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Unsettled? Newcastle had faith in the cause and showed trust in each other. Distracted? They demonstrated focus. The bit about a forward needs to be remedied — and sooner the better — but for the rubberneckers looking on for signs of discord, there was disappointment.
As tone-setters go, a 0-0 draw was not unequivocal, but it did feel important in its own way. After six games without a victory in pre-season, after a difficult start to the transfer window with its lost causes and deflating rejections and with Isak looming over everything, a rejoinder was necessary.
The Sweden international wants out, but not everybody does, something that was put to Howe afterwards. 'That's a great point,' the head coach said. 'Everyone who stepped on the pitch showed that they want to be here and showed they want to play well.
'There was no sign of any weakness in our performance, which is pleasing because it would have been easy to allow our standards to drop or our attention to drift, for the players to have a feeling of negativity going into the game or to have an excuse. But there was no sign of that.'
To think that anybody seriously doubted them.
Yet none of this has been easy. Moments like this can threaten a dressing room because unsettled players can be toxic and disharmony can fester. The impasse with Isak has robbed Newcastle of their best player and created a schism among a squad that recently brought the club its first domestic trophy for 70 years. Romance has been shaken.
'It has been difficult because we're such a tight-knit group, so we've never really had any problems publicly,' Anthony Gordon told TNT Sports. 'It's tested us, but you see today we've still got that spirit, we've still got that togetherness, and it's never going to go regardless of any individual. So our togetherness is top and it always will be.'
Gordon added that episodes such as this can 'battle-test you and make you better in the end. That's going to be the case'.
A response of a different kind came from the bank of supporters who had travelled down from Tyneside. As players and staff turned back towards the dressing room after applauding a crammed away end, there was an unmistakable chant of, 'One greedy bastard.'
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No prizes for guessing who that might have been aimed at.
There can only be sadness and a sense of frustration that it has come to this, not that anything is set in stone. Isak is refusing to play, so Howe is refusing to let him train with the squad. Liverpool have offered £110million ($150m) for him, but Newcastle value him at £150m and, in any case, would struggle to buy a striker who could come close to replacing him.
Newcastle's next opponents — wouldn't you know it — are Liverpool.
Howe has not given up on the notion of reconciliation and rehabilitation.
'Nothing's changed, but the door is well and truly open,' Newcastle's head coach said. 'But, yeah, (Isak) has to decide what he wants to do.
'We would like a resolution. When I say we, I'm talking about us, the owners, everyone, the players that we have, because we need that clarity. This season, any Premier League season, is going to be hard enough. You don't need any kind of distraction to swerve your thoughts, to unbalance what we're doing. I'm certainly not in control of that, and there's only one person who can control it. Alex is in control of what he does.'
It is easy to say that Newcastle missed Isak against Villa — but of course they missed him. He is a world-class forward who has scored 20 league goals or more in two consecutive seasons, which is precisely why Liverpool fancy him. Without Isak, Newcastle dominated possession against Unai Emery's team and had 16 shots to Villa's three. Only three of those 16 were on target. In the final third, it was a story of clumsy touches or patchy decision-making.
'I have slightly mixed feelings in that I'm disappointed we didn't win because I thought we deserved to,' Howe said. 'But I'm very pleased and proud of the players who gave everything and delivered a very strong performance. Just the goals were missing, which is unfortunate timing from our perspective.'
It was Gordon who played in a central position, charging into space or drifting wide. Ezri Konsa hauled back the England international in the 66th minute and deserved his red card. Newcastle's front three, which also featured Harvey Barnes and Anthony Elanga, boasted speed, danger and promise. They are far from a hopeless proposition.
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'As my career progresses, I will end up more central anyway — it's come a bit earlier than I imagined, but I'm really enjoying it,' Gordon said. 'It's just going to take some getting used to.'
Hopefully not, which isn't meant as a criticism of Gordon, who looks back to his best after a difficult season. Twelve months ago, he was the one whose head had been turned by Liverpool, but he has brought it round. It can be done. 'We've got to find a way to add goals to the group,' Howe said. 'We're actively looking in the market.'
With Isak, Newcastle have their stance. At Villa, they made their stand. Given everything that enveloped it, did Howe have a sense of relief? 'Maybe relief for a couple of hours,' he replied, with a small smile. 'And then it all starts again.'
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