HOWE AND WHY

Boss Eddie insists he only wants players who are committed to the cause... so how would that work if Isak comes back into the frame for Toon?

- BY IAN MURTAGH

THROUGHOUT the long drawn-out Alexander Isak saga Newcastle boss Eddie Howe has played a blinder.

Club spokesman, diplomat, peacemaker, not forgetting his day job of managing and coaching Toon. But in the thousands of words he has spoken about Isak, Howe has, perhaps inevitably, talked himself into a corner.

A fortnight ago, after a preseason defeat against Atletico Madrid, the head coach insisted he would pick only players committed to the black-and-white cause.

He reiterated the point in his press conference yesterday ahead of Monday night's match at home to Liverpool, when the talk is certain to be dominated by an individual who won't be there. Howe said: “If Alex is to play for Newcastle again, he has to be totally committed. I don't think it works any other way.