Isakly what we need (AKA Isak Hunt)
- Thread starter Hansern
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The green one?
Isn't it awesome?
Adidas planned for Isak's arrival by designing a kit in Newcastle's Saudi colours.
That's what I call confidence
View: https://x.com/LukeEdwardsTele/status/1962455592787681780
Christ i can only wank so much
"There is no other word for it. Newcastle United capitulated over Alexander Isak and will be feeling the ramifications for a long time to come.
It is hard to recollect a transfer that has been handled so badly. To lose your best player in the final hours of the transfer window, for less than the asking price, is a failure of leadership, planning and resolve.
Newcastle, as they insisted they would not do for months, have lost their most important player and did not get the money they wanted for him.
They have weakened themselves and directly strengthened a domestic rival. They look small time, weak, a club that rolled over with owners who crumbled. That is on Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund. They are the ones in control, they are the ones who have the final say, they are the ones who insisted Isak was not for sale all summer and then sold him anyway.
There was a plan at Newcastle this summer to keep Isak. There was strength and defiance, a determination not to be bullied by Liverpool, by the player or his agent. The plan was to dig and resist and, if necessary, keep their star striker against his will. They knew if Isak forced his way out, others would be likely to follow.
All summer this plan played out exactly as Newcastle were expecting. They knew Isak was keen to leave and they did not care. They knew there would be all sorts of dirty tricks played to unsettle him, with the intention of lowering their £150m asking price, but they vowed to hold the line.
They did all of that right up until the moment they did not. They buckled under pressure and made themselves look foolish. They have been put in their place. They lost and Liverpool won, just as they normally do on the pitch.
Newcastle aspire to compete with the best team in the country, to challenge for silverware, to push the boundaries of expectations. They want supporters to dream of glory, to believe Newcastle are a different club now. But when push came to shove, they were played by Liverpool, tucked in and patted on the head.
Newcastle, as they always have done, were unable to keep a prized asset. The names of Peter Beardsley, Chris Waddle, Paul Gascogine, Dietmar Hamann and Andy Carroll resonate. Yes, they got a British record transfer fee, but it is not so much the money here that is important. It is the optics.
Newcastle could have got £130m for Isak at any stage this summer. Liverpool would have paid that money in June, July or even at the start of the month, but Newcastle resisted.
They waited until the final day of the window to sell up, having missed out on a trio of strikers who could have been a suitable fit for the gaping hole Isak’s departure leaves in their team. Joao Pedro, Hugo Ekitike and Benjamin Sesko were all chased at various points this summer and all went elsewhere. It feels embarrassing, even if the Brentford striker Yoane Wissa moves to Tyneside on deadline day.
The blame lies with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund: the majority stakeholders who took charge of the Isak saga several weeks ago. They kept co-owner Jamie Reuben and manager Eddie Howe out of things. They talked about the challenges of reintegration, of what it would take to bring Isak back into the fold. They released a statement 13 days ago declaring they did “not foresee the conditions” for a sale being met and gushed over the fact they would eventually welcome Isak back “into the family” when he was ready to return. The asking price was £150m and they needed to sign two strikers before they would sanction his departure.
That was followed by a bold and combative briefing that, if people thought that statement meant they were open to the sale of Isak, they were not paying attention. This was PIF that Liverpool were dealing with, not Newcastle United’s former owner Mike Ashley. They were not small any more.
Except, when it came to the crunch, PIF did exactly what Ashley would have done. They saw the size of the fee and with no consideration of how much damage it would do to Howe’s chances of replicating his team’s success on the pitch, they took the money and made their team significantly weaker as a result. It was a purely business decision rather than a football one. Make no mistake, everyone on the football side of the operation wanted to keep Isak.
Ashley sold Andy Carroll to Newcastle for a British record fee on deadline day in 2019, also after weeks of insisting the home-grown centre-forward was not for sale. Then they limped through the rest of the season. That was in January. They had only a few months to navigate until a proper summer rebuild took place; Howe has a full season in which he will have to deal with a Champions League campaign as well as the usual domestic concerns. PIF are in danger of blowing up this campaign before it has really started.
If only they had realised there was no point keeping Isak when he first went on strike back in July, when he refused to go on the club’s pre-season tour to Asia. If only they had said they would take the money at the start of August when Isak made it clear there would be no detente; when he missed three Premier League games and left Newcastle without a proper centre forward. Howe’s side failed to win any of them, with two goalless draws and a narrow defeat to, yes, that’s right, Liverpool.
Newcastle could have sold Isak at any stage this summer and it would have been better than on the eve of deadline day.
The pressure is on PIF. You can see why they eventually decided to sell a player who had turned difficult. He refused to agree to play one more season and warned he would agitate to leave again in January if he was kept now. They have removed a distraction and drain on time and energy. Some fans will be pleased to see the back of him, but in terms of a strategy, this has been a complete failure. Newcastle’s owners said one thing all summer and at the last moment did another. That deserves to be criticised."
Yep - i think it looks absolutely brilliant and love the retro adidas logo. Not hugely into either of the other ones and would like a shirt with some gold PL logos on
That is simply outstanding from PP 😂😂😂
God I hate international football..Sweden are playing Slovenia and Kosovo in qualifiers this coming week and have a much stronger squad than both those teams.
Just let Isak (who is not fit enough to stay fit Sweden anyway) spend the two weeks at the Axa getting fit and settling into life at Anfield for fuck sake.
Just let Isak (who is not fit enough to stay fit Sweden anyway) spend the two weeks at the Axa getting fit and settling into life at Anfield for fuck sake.
I think we'll assess him when he joins the camp and it can be good for him to be with the national team instead of hanging around in the training center sharing a pizza with Chiesa. He probably won't start in any of the games, but it's a good way of getting him up to speed.
Isak is arguably our most important player, together with Kulu, the rest are somewhere between meh and shite.
I think it'd be a good thing for Isak to get some minutes into his legs with Sweden. He needs it.
Didn't realise you were a Swede.
What do you make of Gyokeres, like really (is he just a flat-track bully? Polished version of Darwin? Or is there real top quality to his game that we haven't seen yet?).
Arsenal fans say he's so good he pushes Isak to the wing for Sweden? Does Isak play well there? An option for us?
you dislike this kit?Not gonna lie, it looks good.
I'm just a bit traumatized by LFC green kits
I've honestly only seen Gyökeres play for our national team and one or two CL games for Sporting.
It's correct to say that he plays up front for us, but Isak plays behind him in a free role, more like a supporting striker.
Our manager, Jon Dahl Tomasson (yes the old Milan striker), has experimented with different line ups during his tenure, mostly because our defence is shite. Two of our best CB's are Lindelöf and Burnley's Hjalmar Ekdal, so we mainly play with a 5-3-2 line up, or a 3-4-3.
Basically like Man U:
-----------Gyökeres
--------Isak----Kulusevski
Elanga-------------------- shite
Gyökeres isn't as good as people think he is. He looks top class in international football, but we all know that it's slower and more disorganised than league football. You saw it yesterday, he's quick, built like a tank and runs a lot, but he doesn't really have the technique or the acceleration to be a top class EPL striker. Most importantly he needs to be fed chances, unlike Isak.
Isak is built like twig, but he still manages to give Van Dijk and others a headache because of his technique, movement and intelligence.
Regarding their finishing ability, I think it's close but Isak edges it imo.
I hate anything green we've worn.
He had it earlier didn't he?
