Hail Alexander The Great, a Swedish hero now ensconced in Geordie legend who catapulted Newcastle into an international break soaring high once again with Europe within touching distance.
Isak signed off spectacularly in Nottingham smashing records and doubts with a double strike which took United from the shock of a possible defeat to a thoroughly deserved victory.
Consider if you will what this giant toothpick of a man achieved over an hour and a half:
- He claimed a wonder equaliser on the brink of half-time to right a dreadful wrong audaciously flicking the ball into the net after Joe Willock's cross actually fell behind him. That was some skill.
- Scored a pressure penalty in the 93rd minute to win three points showing a coolness reminiscent of Sweden's most famous ice man Bjorn Borg when the whole stadium was at boiling point.
- As a consequence Isak has gone into the record books bettering legends of the game - he is the first Swedish player to score more than four goals in his first 10 Premier League games. The men he has surpassed? Tomas Brolin (Leeds United, 1995-1996) and Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Manchester United, 2016) who both netted four in their first 10.
- Isak's current return for United stands at a hugely impressive six goals from seven league starts plus three sub appearances. What a goals-per-game record that is.
- And but for VAR his stats would be even better. Our super Swede scored a sensational second on his debut at Liverpool only for it to be ruled out by the narrowest of margins and at the City Ground produced an audacious assist for Elliot Anderson but again the referee was asked to check and the call went incorrectly against United. Isak was actually on the floor when he received the ball in the penalty area but leapt up to produce delicious skills and pick out Anderson at the back post for a super finish.
That he was on the pitch to score the penalty in the third minute of added on time was a triumph in itself given that his manager had insisted Isalk's fitness had not been good enough in a high pressing team for him to last a full game.
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Isak has dragged a stuttering, sinking United to two successive victories and in the process smashed Forest's record of nine PL games unbeaten during which time they had denied Manchester City, Chelsea and Liverpool the sort of full return United ended up claiming.
Here's a question: does £60m now seem like a snip given how sky high the fees can be for top goalscorers in these inflationary days? And I might suggest that Isak is more than a finisher. He is an intelligent footballer whose runs in behind stretches and confuses defenders.
Isak may be the man of the moment but we must not overlook the second-half performance of Anderson. He too was a revelation. It was ironic that Anderson should announce his arrival as a Newcastle first-team player against the same opposition in the same town where his grandad's playing career came to a tragic end.
It was against Nottingham Forest that Geoff Allen was badly injured though the game was actually staged across the Trent at Notts County's ground because of a fire destroying Forest's stadium. Anderson was cruelly robbed of a great goal when playing on the left wing - grandad's favourite position though Geoff would never have produced a header like that powering over his marker!
Joe Willock also starred in the chorus line. With United's team badly in need of being freshened up Isak, Willock and Anderson duly arrived for big beasts Callum Wilson, Joelinton, and Maxi and the joy they brought was as welcome as a drop of cooling water on a parched tongue.
However when you are battling at the Champions League end of the table then the bar is high and so may I finish with a more sobering request amid much elation. I am looking for United to get back to being the miserly spoilers they were not so long ago when they produced eight successive shut-outs in league and league cup at the turn of the year.
Though they still boast the overall record as the PL's meanest defence they have now gone eight league and cup matches in a row since they last kept a clean sheet dating back to January. It was a clanger here by Sven Botman that gifted Forest the lead and looked as though it might result in a killer defeat which would have been daylight robbery.
All's well that ends well of course but please let United revert to nature. They have started scoring again so let them start keeping clean sheets again.
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