Joe Buck reflects on Newcastle United's 2-2 draw with Espanyol at St James' Park and Eddie Howe's comments surrounding Alexander Isak's future at the club amid intense Liverpool transfer links.
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00:01So, Nugazi United's first match at St James' Park of pre-season ended in a 2-2 draw with Espanyol.
00:07Jacob Murphy's second half strike, everyone thought that would give Nugazi United the win,
00:12but unfortunately, Kike Garcia with a very nice header seal the draw for Espanyol.
00:17It was an even match, you know, Nugazi dominated much of the possession, much of the play,
00:22but just couldn't find the killer touch.
00:25Matt Target got the goal in the first half, that equalised out and cancelled out a stunning strike from Espanyol
00:33for their opening, if you can catch that, it was a brilliant strike.
00:36But as I said, Matt Target Herrera levelled the game in the first half,
00:40Aaron Ramsey saved a penalty just for half-time, and I said Jacob Murphy in the second half,
00:44thought he'd won it, but Kike Garcia in the last minute levelled the game.
00:48And yeah, there was a couple of positive performances, Bruno Demorish and Lewis Miley were really good in midfield,
00:52at all, Dan Burnley was brilliant at the back, Lewis Hall and Matt Target played a weird sort of hybrid
00:58midfield left-back role, that was interesting to see, I don't know how long-term to lose it anyhow,
01:02but it was certainly interesting to gain how praise, targets and hauling the difficulty of his players
01:07in his post-match press conference, and Aaron Ramsey, of course, with that penalty save.
01:12Still a few kinds of performances, but as I said, it's not about the result, it's about the thickness,
01:16but of course, unfortunately, the main topic of conversation after the game
01:20was Alexander Izak and his future at the club.
01:22Now, Howe was asked direct about the strike, and how Izak, of course,
01:26hasn't featured for their Jura pre-season, didn't go on the trip to Asia with them last month,
01:31missed three games there, and won't feature against Atletico Madrid tomorrow at St James' Park,
01:37or today, by the time you're watching this.
01:38And yeah, Howe was asked about his future, and he basically said that at this moment in time,
01:43Izak can't be involved with the group. Didn't go into specifics on that, but it was very clear from what Howe said
01:49that Izak was in a position to train with his teammates, that hasn't happened.
01:53Of course, Izak returned to train on Monday, and then Tuesday, and then when the team returned on Wednesday,
01:57he wasn't involved, and now he turned up later. And as currently, that situation is unlikely to change.
02:02Howe said right at the end of his press conference that it's unlikely, very unlikely,
02:06that Izak will be involved against Aston Villa next week if he's part of the club,
02:09unless things take a drastic change, which he doesn't anticipate happening,
02:13then Izak won't be involved in that game.
02:16He also said that there was multiple reasons why Izak wasn't involved, but there was no injury,
02:24and that if he was, if he had him available for selection, he would have picked him today,
02:28he'd pick him tomorrow, you know, he would include him in training.
02:31So you read between the lines of them quotes, you can read the full quotes on the Shields,
02:34but reading between the lines of what he said and being in the moment in that press conference,
02:37I felt very much that he put the onus on the player as a reason why he, you know, why he's not playing.
02:44I think that it's clear that, as you all know, you know, Izak sort of,
02:49his situation in training is very much on him, and he's not being involved in the group for a particular reason,
02:55and that reason that how, you know, you can, people have labeled it whether he's on strike or not,
03:00you know, you can't go, and we're not going to go into that, but you can read between the lines of what he said,
03:03but he very much put the ball in the player's court and said, you know, it's, it's, it's the reason why he's not training,
03:08unless anything changes, and it'll continue to be that reason.
03:11So yeah, he won't feature against that better coming to tomorrow, and it'll be interesting to see what happens,
03:14you know, it's up to Liverpool now, really, if they want to force a move, you know,
03:17their first bid was devised £310m, it's going to have to take at least a club that will say to even tempt me their third-day sale.
03:24Will it be the £111m of the band? Probably not, but unfortunately, you know,
03:28player power now suggests that maybe Izak, you know, will get the move,
03:32it's a shame because you would hope that Newcastle United can hold on to their player,
03:36you know, that he's their player after all, he's still got three years left in his contract,
03:39Eddie Howie said that, you know, that he remains with Newcastle United player,
03:42and there is a future player in the club as any Newcastle United player, no deal gets done,
03:46but unfortunately, I think, every sort of day that passes and every sort of time,
03:52Alexander Izak doesn't return to training, and Eddie Howie doesn't have that option,
03:56and letting him return to training probably strengthens Izak's pace and desire to leave the club,
04:01so yeah, it'll be interesting to see what happens over the next few weeks,
04:04obviously, just over three weeks, they're trying to go and remain,
04:06but until they pull up their bid, if they do up their bid, Izak will remain a Newcastle United player.
04:11Yeah, it's a frustrating summer, and Eddie Howie addressed that,
04:17said that he would like the club to have, you know, not acted quicker,
04:20but the club have been quicker, you know, they have tried to sign players,
04:25but unfortunately, for one reason, November hasn't, you know, happened,
04:28they've seen multiple targets join other clubs, but he's still hopeful of some breakthroughs,
04:33so I think that's one thing fans can cling on to, the fact that in the three weeks,
04:36you know, football, a lot can change in football, hopefully three weeks time,
04:39we've got the players in, but as I said right now, you know,
04:41the first, or the second last game of the pre-season,
04:44Premier League begins next week, and right now, there's only one outfield signing in Anthony Lang,
04:52or one German signing in Anthony Lang, and there are four thousand fans here on North,
04:56so yeah, it's really hard to speak right now, you know, we've got the game tomorrow,
05:01a lot of things could be a lot rosier, a lot more, not worse, depending on developments,
05:05but right now, I guess United, we hope to have a good end of this pre-season,
05:08with a win in the Cellar Cup tomorrow, hopefully that a lot of stuff can happen between now
05:13and the end of the summer transfer window, and I'm speaking this time next week at Villa Park,
05:18Villa Park, where, with a positive update on both the transfer front and the playing front,
05:23but right now, yeah, a lot is still dependent on Izak, you know, that's the big one, isn't it,
05:28of what's going to happen with him, but yeah, you know, I rambled a lot, it's a lot of taking,
05:33because that was, it was, Eddie Howe often keeps the cards closer to the chest,
05:37and you could say he's sort of done that, similar to D, but it was clear what in his message,
05:41and what he wanted to get out there through the media, you know, speaking about Izak,
05:46and yeah, of course, the best thing you can see, obviously, with all the latest on Izak,
05:50and the rest of the transfer news, and of course, everything that happens against Atletico Madrid
05:54on Saturday is with the Shields Gazette.
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