Who leads the line for Newcastle against Liverpool?

Newcastle United host champions Liverpool on Monday night without our star striker and with more questions than answers up front. Alexander Isak’s recent social media meltdown has put Eddie Howe even more in damage-control mode, while scrambling to find a centre-forward solution at the worst possible moment.

The Isak saga

This hasn’t been a sudden shock. It has been a drawn-out saga that began with Isak effectively going on strike and skipping pre-season. He then jetted off to San Sebastián without permission to train with Real Sociedad staff, while being left out of the club’s family day during the summer. In the vacuum, media-driven narratives swirled, with nonsense being fed to the likes of Fabrizio Romano and David Ornstein who were only too glad to milk the soap opera for what it was worth for click-bait headlines as Isak’s camp adamantly suggesting Isak would never play for the club again.

Through it all, Eddie Howe continued to remain stoic, preparing the team diligently during pre-season and has kept a diplomatic line, careful not to escalate matters and always leaving the door open for reconciliation. But Isak’s infamous Instagram statement felt like a breaking point, beyond which it is hard to imagine any way back. It was the latest twist in a messy saga, and the most public act of self-sabotage, with Isak essentially burning his bridges in front of the world.

Howe’s task is now twofold: rebuild an attacking plan for Monday and protect the unity of a squad overshadowed by the behaviour of its supposed talisman.

The Gordon experiment

Anthony Gordon has become Howe’s preferred stop-gap at CF. Against Villa, he led the line and showed glimpses of what he can offer: intelligent link play, relentless pressing, and raw pace that unsettles defenders. He also showed what he lacks: the instincts of a natural number nine.

But Howe’s endorsement was unequivocal:

“He’s done it enough to do the job really well for the team. I have no issue playing him there a number of times both as a starter and a substitute. He plays differently to other strikers but that can be a positive. He’s got devastating pace, a really good work ethic and he’s scored goals. I think he played really well last week in lots of different phases of his game.

For Howe, Gordon at striker isn’t compromise football, it’s a pragmatic solution to a sub-optimal situation.

The Osula dilemma

William Osula is the only recognised centre-forward available. He started several pre-season games and showed brief flashes: decent hold-up, a willingness to press, raw energy. But the key word is raw. His instincts aren’t sharpened, his finishing isn’t clinical, and his positional discipline isn’t yet there. Throwing him into a cauldron atmosphere like Monday night could do more damage than good. Howe has never been one to throw caution to the wind when the margins are this fine.

A tactical wrinkle

Liverpool’s right-hand side is vulnerable. Jeremy Frimpong is out with a hamstring injury and Conor Bradley has only just returned to training. That makes Newcastle’s left wing a natural area to target. In theory, this strengthens the argument for Gordon staying wide and attacking in his natural role, leaving Osula to occupy the central role. It’s the bold, risk-taking option that many fans would love to see.

But that simply isn’t the Eddie Howe way. Howe values structure and reliability over gambles. He would rather move his best wide player into an unfamiliar central role than put the system’s weight on the shoulders of an untested youngster.

A summer of failed pursuits

Here is the brutal truth. None of this should be happening. Newcastle went into the summer both knowing that Wilson needed replacing and seemingly that Isak might be unsettled. They pursued Hugo Ekitike, João Pedro, Liam Delap, and Benjamin Šeško, and landed none of them. The club has also wasted an entire month on what looks to be, yet another, failed pursuit of Yoane Wissa, who himself has embarked upon Isak-esque levels of betrayal by trying to force a move out of Brentford, and scrubbing all references to the club from his Instagram story. Now, confirming the farce that has become Newcastle United’s recruitment team’s approach to signing a new CF, we are seemingly closing in on the £60m signing of Jørgen Strand Larsen whom himself only just signed permanently for Wolves for £23m a few weeks ago.

The answer

So, in our first home game of the season, expect Gordon to start through the middle again. It may not be glamorous, it may not be daring, and it may not even be the most logical on paper given Liverpool’s defensive weakness. But it is the most Howe-like decision: safe, structured, and system-first.

And when the dust settles, this whole dilemma will be remembered less as a tactical puzzle and more as the product of two failings. The first, a summer of botched CF recruitment. The second, Isak’s treachery.