Finally, after 142 long days, Newcastle United supporters got their first glimpse of Callum Wilson and Alexander Isak playing together against Fulham on Sunday. You suspect it was worth the wait after the £80m duo combined at the death.
There were 89 minutes on the clock at St James' Park when Sean Longstaff's first-time cross picked out Wilson at the back post and the striker unselfishly hooked the ball back across goal at the second attempt. There was Isak to head Newcastle in front and secure a precious three points to send the Magpies back up to third in the table following a 1-0 win.
Although Howe rarely deviates from his favoured 4-3-3 formation, the Newcastle boss, tellingly, switched to a 4-2-3-1 when Isak came on in the 70th minute. That gamble paid off on an afternoon where Wilson, Isak, Allan Saint-Maximin and Miguel Almiron were all on the field at one point for the first time. So was it a sign of things to come?
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"Let's wait and see," Howe told reporters. "Today was the right moment. I thought long and hard during the game about what to do.
"We felt it was an opportunity to maybe go for the three points but the easy thing to think is the more attackers you put on, the more chances you have of scoring. It doesn't always work that way. Sometimes, it can be counter-productive. Today, it worked.
"I believe in all those players. I believe they can play together. Whether we start that way? It will just depend on the game."
It was certainly a promising start. What was striking about the goal was only how Wilson picked out his team-mate but, also, how genuinely delighted the number nine was for Isak as he pulled his head towards him when they celebrated together. Rather than seeing Isak as a rival, Wilson knows the record signing can help Newcastle, like he did on Sunday, and, also, push the experienced England international on even further.
Wilson, after all, thrives off competition so when Isak joined the club last summer, the 30-year-old made sure the new arrival felt welcome from literally the moment he first walked into the training ground last August. Wilson was injured at the time and knew, even in the short-term, Isak had a huge role to play in his absence.
Rather than trying to intimidate Isak as the dressing room alpha - that is not part of Wilson's make-up, regardless - the striker was well-aware of his responsibility as one of the key members of Howe's leadership group to ensure new signings quickly feel at home to help them hit the ground running. Isak certainly got off to a good start and, even after four months on the sidelines, the 23-year-old looked sharp in his first Premier League appearance since September.
It said it all that the mere sight of Isak on the touchline gave the crowd a huge lift when the Swede prepared to come on with 20 minutes to go after Aleksandar Mitrovic's converted penalty was disallowed. Cue a chant of: "Botman at the back, Isak in attack, Newcastle are going to win the Premier League!" from the terraces.
Isak has been trialled out wide in training on occasion at Newcastle, but the substitute took up a position just off Wilson after replacing Joe Willock - which, perhaps, should not have come as a huge surprise. One word that keeps coming back to ChronicleLive from those who worked with Isak is that the summer signing is a 'connector', someone who relishes coming deep and linking play, and there was a first glimpse of those qualities on Sunday in the 75th minute.
It was Isak who led a Newcastle breakaway from deep in his own half and fed Saint-Maximin who, in turn, found Joelinton. The Brazilian then slipped the ball to Isak by the halfway line and the substitute expertly took it away from Issa Diop as the Fulham defender slid in before eventually scooping the ball back out to Saint-Maximin on the left. Saint-Maximin's cross was just a bit too heavy for Wilson to immediately latch onto, but the striker still got a shot away from a tight angle that Bernd Leno was forced to parry before Saint-Maximin fired just wide.
Newcastle may have been foiled, once more, but the crowd roared in encouragement and the hosts continued to push. Rather than getting desperate and shooting from distance, as Newcastle would have done in a similar situation earlier this season, Howe's side continued to probe and move the ball - and that composure soon paid off for the goal.
In fact, Isak could have let fly from outside the area in the build-up - the crowd urged him to - but the forward instead calmly squared the ball to fellow substitute Jacob Murphy. Just a few seconds later, Isak ghosted in undetected to score the winner. Not for the last time, you suspect.
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