Isak takes the Micky
Newcastle talisman leaves top flight’s fastest-ever player trailing in his wake
NEWCASTLE want to build their team around Alexander Isak, and one day they might just find Micky van de Ven buried amid the foundations.
The Premier League’s fastestever player was made to look like a tugboat by the home striker, whose speed of thought was too quick for the feet of the Tottenham defender.
There was only one of that pair worthy of comparison to Usain Bolt here. For while Isak wore spikes, Van de Ven was in roller skates. Rio Ferdinand likened him to a Rolls Royce before kick-off. The Peckham-raised pundit could well have used a Robin Reliant post game.
The goal that set the ball rolling saw Isak dash inside the Dutch centre-back before finishing past Guglielmo Vicario in the 30th minute. The Spurs man was in a literal spin, head on the floor as if break dancing. Within 90 seconds he was back on that dance floor, but this was a black and white party. This time, Anthony Gordon chopped beyond Van de Ven — who slipped over, again — and the winger smashed through Vicario.
Come the 51st minute and Van de Ven was playing a line so high that Isak was onside by virtue of being in his own half. He duly ran clear to make it 3-0. At this point, it was hard to know if the Holland international was appealing for a flag or asking Ange Postecoglou to take him off.
It says much about the visitors that there were several candidates more deserving of the hook, and before the hour captain Son Heung-min was among a hapless trio headed for the dressingroom. No need for an early shower when you haven’t broken sweat.
Saying that, Isak didn’t break a bead all afternoon. He may have the look of a long-distance runner, so lean and lithe limbed, but he moves like a sprinter out of the blocks. Most impressive of all, he does so with the ball at his feet. His display reflected that of his team — efficient, unforgiving and clinical.
Newcastle, remarkably, had just 27 per cent possession, and that is why this was a victory for Eddie Howe. He devised a game-plan that allowed Spurs to have the ball, allowed them to lose it — Son surrendered it twice, leading to goals — and then allowed Isak, Gordon and Harvey Barnes to expose the opposition flaws, namely that high line and those charged with executing it. While that ploy failed, Newcastle’s excelled. They added a fourth by more conventional means when Fabian Schar headed in from a corner late on.
The Magpies looked like the team of last season, the one that finished fourth and smashed Spurs 6-1 in the same fixture a year ago.
With better luck around availability — injuries and Sandro Tonali’s suspension have been crippling — Howe’s team could have made the Champions League once more.
Isak has started 21 of 32 league games. With him in the team more often, the 10-point gap that remains between these sides would be far smaller. But what continues to multiply is the Swede’s worth.
Newcastle chief executive Darren Eales is on the record saying that every player has their price in an FFP world. Howe would prefer it if that did not to extend to Isak, who in scoring his 20th and 21st goals of the season became the first Newcastle player to net 20 in a single campaign since Alan Shearer 20 years ago.
‘We are trying to build a team here,’ said Howe. ‘We are trying to grow everything upwards. To do that as quickly as possible, you need to keep your best players. Otherwise, you enter a period of transition and have to start again. Your top players, the elite ones, are so difficult to recruit. When we get one, we have to try and keep them.’
Isak is not alone, though. Gordon was sensational. He robbed Destiny Udogie for the opener before finding scorer Isak in the area. He was soon pouncing on Pedro Porro’s hopeless back pass, making light work of Van de Ven’s attempted intervention and hammering his 11th of the season for 2-0. It was his corner for Schar’s goal, too. In a face-off of England hopefuls, this was Anthony Gordon 3 James Maddison 0 for goal contributions.
Bruno Guimaraes was the creator for Isak’s second with an angled ball over the top. Passes like that are the preserve of an elite player. Like Isak and Gordon, Guimaraes is that.
Howe, then, has the core of a Champions League team. Newcastle, as the manager wishes, should build on what they already have.