Newcastle United boss Eddie Howe hopes that Alexander Isak’s injury won’t be too serious – but admits that throwing money at his striker problem is not an option in January.
The head coach explained that Callum Wilson was simply not fit enough to come on to replace Isak as early as the 21st minute. But Newcastle can’t seem to get either Wilson or Isak at the same level fitness wise, or indeed supply a fully fit centre-forward over the course of 90 minutes, something that also hurt them last season.
Howe first reflected on the “good news” on Isak’s injury and feels that he may be back sooner than many first feared. Speaking in his post-game press conference, he said: “It was a contact injury, not a muscle pull, which is good news for us. We hope he will recover quickly but at this moment I don’t know.”
When asked if the striker issue now made January’s transfer plans vital in terms of bringing in a striker, Howe reflected: “It is a difficult one. Because fully fit Premier League strikers who can score goals cost an extortionate amount of money that we don’t have. No I don’t think so. We have to back the players that we do have.”
Explaining why Wilson was not the immediate replacement for Isak when he came off, Howe said: “It was a difficult one for Callum today. Obviously, he has minimal training time and I have to be really, really careful I don’t push him and lose him.
“So I didn’t feel bringing him on at that stage with the minutes we had left of the game was something I could do. The plan pre-game was 20 to 30 minutes as it was against West Ham.
“So I decided to put Anthony up there who has done a really good job when he’s gone up there for us previously and I thought he did well today. The lack of goalscoring opportunities is not on him. It’s on the team and we need to do better.”
The head coach also confessed his side are lacking confidence which contributed to throwing away their slender lead.
He said: “We look a bit low on confidence and losing Alex was a huge blow to that. Then again we were without a recognised striker so it was important that Anthony did well. The team performed well in the first two thirds and I thought it was a strong performance, only lacking cutting edge up front.”
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