Eddie Howe’s interesting Alexander Isak admission as Callum Wilson nears Newcastle United return
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Eddie Howe admits Alexander Isak often looked isolated during Newcastle United’s 1-1 draw with AFC Bournemouth.
The £58million summer signing scored his second Magpies goal - his first at St James’ Park - after calmly dispatching his spot-kick on 66 minutes.
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Hide AdIt immediately cancelled out Philip Billing’s opener but disappointingly for Eddie Howe’s side, they were unable to find a winner and drew their fifth game of the campaign.
And while Howe was happy to see the 22-year-old on the scoresheet, he knows there is still work to do after a largely quiet display from Isak, much like Crystal Palace last time out.
The 44-year-old said: “He’s (Isak) learning, and not just how the team plays, but also how his teammates around him play too.
“Again, there were flashes from him today, but I don’t think, as a team, we did well enough around him to get him into goalscoring positions.
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Hide Ad“We didn’t feed him the ball early enough. He was a little bit isolated, and we didn’t get him involved enough in the key areas where he wants to be involved.
“Let’s look at the positives – he took his penalty brilliantly and he worked hard for the team.
“He definitely contributed, but we know we can get him involved a lot more than that.”
With Callum Wilson set to return for the trip to Fulham after the international break, Howe will have a tough selection call to make.
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Hide AdWilson will be pushing for an instant recall to the starting XI, which could see Isak moved into a wide position due to his versatility.
Howe said: “Our game plan is not to isolate him at all, he should have a lot of players around him, whether that’s our wide men or our attacking midfield players.
“It’s certainly not a view that we’re playing with one striker – we’re playing with several attacking players. It didn’t really materialise today though, so we’ll look at that and analyse why.
“He is a versatile player, and we obviously moved him briefly to the wide left when Chris (Wood) came on.
“He can play in a slightly deeper role as well, so there is flexibility with him.”