Newcastle were 3-0 up and skimming the ball like a stone across a lake, yet Callum Wilson was still prowling with furrowed brows.
He had missed three first-half chances — all created by Anthony Gordon — and was furious at half-time despite the healthy lead. Having decreed against Brentford that “pressure is for tyres”, here was a man who was still pumping it into himself.
“Maybe it’s from my upbringing, having to fight your way through things and not letting anyone take anything from you,” he has said of that attitude. “If the defender is getting the better of me, he’s taking things from me.”
Eleven minutes after the restart, Sheffield United’s midfield was as unoccupied as the Pennine Moors. Fabian Schar drove into the space towards the edge of the box before pulling the attention of an opposition defender. The ball was slid into Kieran Trippier, who was overlapping on the right flank.
The first-time cross was hung in Wilson’s eyeline, those brows now raised with anticipation. He flung himself at the ball, forcing it through Wes Foderingham’s legs, this time not to be denied. It was arguably Newcastle’s best team goal of the season. You sense that detail does not matter to Wilson.
Since Newcastle’s 6-1 win over Tottenham Hotspur in April, Alexander Isak has scored just three goals, including the eighth against Sheffield United on Sunday. In the same span, fellow striker Wilson has scored 11 — having started seven games to Isak’s 11.
Of course, raw statistics only say so much. The pair are very different players, with Isak much more involved in linking play and drifting wide. Wilson typically stays between the lines of the penalty area, particularly at this stage of his career, as a traditional poacher. They are, though, largely competing for the same starting spot at the tip of Newcastle’s attack.
Compare their shot maps since the start of last season and Wilson’s are concentrated much more in the six-yard box — since the start of last season, his xG/shot is the highest in the league.
Eddie Howe is well aware of this. Isak has not been in bad form as such; Wilson is just flying.
“Sometimes stats can be a little misleading,” he said on Friday. “Look at (Isak’s) last performance against Milan and there was so much good from him. He linked play really well for us, but as a team, we didn’t really click in the final third. Yes, he will want to score, but as long as the team is performing well, that’s the main thing.”
Since arriving on Tyneside in August 2022, Isak has managed to combine goals with the extra work he brings to the team. There was one on debut against Liverpool, while it was his burst of form in early spring, with seven league goals in March and April, that catapulted Newcastle back into the top four. This season began with a double against Aston Villa — but before Sunday, those were his only goals in his past 12 Premier League appearances.
Some of it may be out of his control. Given his involvement in link-up play, it stands to reason that Isak will be more affected than Wilson by Newcastle’s midfield struggles. Before the Sheffield United game, 18.9 per cent of Newcastle’s passes into the final third this season had been received centrally, with 46.7 per cent out to the right and 34.4 per cent to the left.
Isak has been isolated — take this example against Liverpool, where he managed only four touches of the ball between Virgil van Dijk’s 28th-minute red card and his own substitution after 72 minutes.
This has forced him deeper in search of involvement — and away from goal. Though still taking his chances when they come, it is notable that he is in those positions less. His expected goals per 90 minutes this season (xG/90) is 0.60 — still a good figure but less than half of Wilson’s 1.25.
Other factors may also be in play. Howe revealed that Isak has been “feeling his knee slightly in the last few weeks”, describing it as an “ongoing issue”. Health-wise, Wilson is in a similar position — “We always have to manage his load,” said Howe on Friday — but has still found career-best form at the age of 31.
Wilson’s starts this season have been either side of Newcastle’s first Champions League fixture against AC Milan — but this is more than resting Isak. Wilson’s play is ensuring that this is genuine rotation. There are fixtures against certain sides in which he is the better option.
Going into the weekend, Wilson had the best minutes-per-goal ratio of any Premier League player in 2023, scoring once every 83 minutes on average. This season, only Erling Haaland (1.47) can better Wilson’s xG/90 in the competition. Only Haaland and Harry Kane have scored more Premier League goals since the start of last season.
At Sheffield United, albeit with the home side’s poor defensive performance, the reasons why were self-evident.
It was two minutes before the away end began chanting Wilson’s name, sung to the tune of JJ Otzi’s Hey Baby. He had taken just two seconds to involve himself in the game, throwing aside the blocking run of a Sheffield United midfielder from kick-off.
Wilson’s superpower is an uncanny knack for finding space in the most congested areas of the pitch. His best work is by definition unseen, slipping off a shoulder when eyes are elsewhere, drifting against the grain as others rush past him. His touches in the box are more than double any other area of the pitch.
After 28 minutes against Sheffield United, there was one touch that improbably eluded him — Gordon’s set piece flashing across goal, centimetres away from his studs. Wilson stared down at his boots in disgust.
Either side of an optimistic curled shot, two more opportunities went by from two more Gordon through balls — one shot uncharacteristically weak, the other an excellent save from Foderingham.
Newcastle had their record Premier League shots on target in the first half and Wilson, with four, had half of them.
Second-half goal secured, Wilson was replaced by Isak after 69 minutes. The Sweden international scored himself — taking his lone shot well in the 87th minute after profiting from Tom Davies’ mistake.
It leaves Newcastle with the best kind of selection problem — one which isn’t a problem at all.
When both fit, Isak and Wilson have propelled each other into form. At the end of last season, when Newcastle approached their best, the pair played together in the forward line.
After Wilson’s own performances dipped last winter — he was playing every match for Newcastle as a result of Isak’s injury straight after returning from the World Cup — it was a spell on the bench which recharged him.
Wilson is in the best goalscoring form of his career and one of the longest injury-free patches. That his minutes are tightly managed is the reason behind both. Soon after scoring, he rubbed the hamstring he hurt at the start of last season. Howe replaced him moments later.
Recovery is in both body and mind — Wilson is now physically well-rested but retains the natural frustration and hunger that come with not starting every game. Isak has also had his own injury issues in his young career.
Isak’s link-up play means that, against elite defences, he makes Newcastle’s attack more multi-faceted, while his improvised finishing is a real strength: think of games against Nottingham Forest and Wolves last season. But Wilson is an alternative rather than an understudy — when Howe’s side play more directly, Wilson is the superior option.
The gap between the two in goals may be striking, but this is a symbiotic partnership regardless of whether they play together.
(Top photos: Getty Images)
