A brace from Alexander Isak and goals from Anthony Gordon earned Newcastle United a 3-0 win over Wolves.
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00:00Newcastle United 3 Wolverhampton 1-0 at St James' Park where you've retreated to one
00:06of the media rooms here because it was very cold outside and very loud but he had to reflect
00:12on a 3-0 victory. I suppose the scoreline suggests it was comfortable but it wasn't.
00:21I think what I'd like to say is if you're watching this video you probably are a massive
00:25Newcastle United fan so I don't think I'm going to be speaking out of turn here when
00:28I say what I really think about what that game represented to me. So many times over
00:34the years, not this Newcastle United necessarily, but so many times over the years, you've been
00:38there, Jordan I've been there, when Newcastle United have gone to stadiums in the Premier
00:42League and you'll walk away going, they didn't even have to play well to beat us today. And
00:48you've walked away with nothing and that's why you're struggling further down the Premier
00:52League and the other team didn't have to play well but wanted a counter largely. The boot
00:57is on the other foot now. Newcastle United were absolutely nowhere near their best. 1-3-0.
01:02Alexander Isak felt like for the first half hour of the game couldn't hit a barn door,
01:09needed someone to blast one off him. Scores two and puts one on a player for Anthony Gordon
01:14who in his own terms as well had an awful game. Literally nothing could go right for
01:19him, just kept plugging away. But I think in the wider scheme of things that's what
01:24good teams do. Good teams win games and don't have to play well. Wolves played out of their
01:29skin largely, apart from probably having that final finishing touch today and walked away
01:34with nothing to show for it. Not even a goal and that's why they're at the bottom. That's
01:38why they're at the bottom of this division and Newcastle United are at the top of this
01:41division. Good teams go out and win games like that. Newcastle United have been outstanding
01:47in a lot of games that they've played in the last month or so since the start of December.
01:51They were far from outstanding at the day but the result was resounding and the score
01:55has never, as I say this many times, there's not an asterisk against it saying, oh well
02:00Wolves played really well. It doesn't matter. It was 3-0 and you'll take it and move on
02:06to Saturday. Nine wins in a row. Unbelievable. First time they've done that in the same top
02:11flight season. The history book's going all the way back. It's just a Premier League thing.
02:17It's a Premier League thing I think. Modern history for them to do that has been unheard
02:25of but they are just sort of firing on all cylinders at the moment. Even back in the
02:32Champions League season they didn't have this kind of run but the form they've shown over
02:38the last few months, particularly after, we'll go back to that Brentford game for me, this
02:44never felt possible. Nine wins in a row, never felt possible. No one would have predicted
02:48this, especially the tough games that they've had. Today in terms of opposition, new manager,
02:53bottom of the table, relegation battle. You'd expect them to beat them, Wolves, but then
02:59the wins they've had previously, Arsenal, Manchester United, Tottenham. It's just an
03:07incredible run of games. It makes you wonder, what can you possibly achieve this season?
03:15Because as I say at the moment, look, confidence is running through the club and I suspect
03:20there probably will come a time where they aren't winning games like they are currently
03:24and the amount of games that they're winning. You always feel when there's a run of games
03:28and you're winning, you always feel like there's a defeat due. But they're on such a run of
03:34form at the moment, the fixtures are coming up, it actually feels like it can actually continue.
03:38Yeah, I think if you look at it on paper, the run of fixtures they've got coming up
03:42is reasonably favourable. I think Saturday against Bournemouth is going to be tough.
03:46They've got quite a few injuries and they're just going to have to patch together a forward
03:51line, but they're a really organised, really good side. They play football the right way.
03:55He looks like a fantastic manager, I'm very impressed by what I've seen from him this
04:00season. So you can't write that game off as being easy winning. Newcastle haven't really
04:04played that well against Bournemouth. Eddie Howe hasn't beat them in the Premier League
04:09since being Newcastle manager. Well it wouldn't be the biggest shock in the world if he didn't
04:12beat them on Saturday, even though it looks winnable on paper. But then you go down to
04:16Southampton, which they have to win, you have to go and win that game. And then you have
04:21Fulham here. Fulham have played alright against Newcastle, played well earlier in the season.
04:26But on paper they're three winnable games. The sky's the limit if you go and win all three.
04:31If you get nine points out of the next three, you know you really are not only cementing
04:36yourself in the top eight, top six, probably getting towards cementing yourself in the
04:40top five, which is realistically going to be Champions League.
04:43I thought you were going to say title race.
04:44It's true man, I'm not talking title. Liverpool stole such a march on everybody at the start
04:49of the season that I don't think anybody can physically catch Liverpool.
04:53I think Liverpool can have a wobble, which I think they're sort of are at the moment,
04:56with the draws for us. But they're so far ahead that you probably won't catch them.
05:00No, they've built up such a bank of points in between them and everybody else, it's not
05:05going to make a difference. So title race, no. I think Newcastle have always just got
05:10to stay on the coattails of Nottingham Forest in my opinion. Because I think everybody thinks
05:16that will hit a limit and they will drop. And I tend to agree because I don't think
05:20they're as impressive as the results have suggested. But they just keep going on and
05:25on and on. But that's the one that would concern me because I think Manchester City will improve.
05:32And I think Arsenal will probably improve again. I think Liverpool will keep going.
05:37So Newcastle's got to make sure that they're the fourth team, in my opinion, to make sure
05:41they get into that Champions League. Because having Champions League football, it's going
05:45to keep players like Alexander Isak. We were just talking before about how many, will he
05:51make 100 goals at Newcastle United? What's he got now, 52? 52 and 49. 52 and 90. Yes.
06:0090-odd games? Yeah, 52 goals in 90 games. 52 and 90? 52 and 90. Uncut, we'll not cut this bit.
06:10No, no, it's a point cut. We'll just leave it in. It's unbelievable. It truly is unbelievable.
06:16He stays if they get Champions League football. I think he probably stays, potentially stays
06:21anywhere with European football. I don't think the club's in any mood to be selling players
06:25like him of his quality and his ilk. I think they're putting together a really strong looking
06:30team that just needs a few additions. That's probably the next thing really. What do you
06:34think about Eddie Howe? Was he asked much about additions? Additions or exits? Exits
06:40are the big ones because starting with Martin Dabrowski, I think that situation now is pretty
06:45clear. He will stay at the football club. But then the other two, Lloyd Kelly is one,
06:50Galatasaray, sorry, Fenerbahce. I think it's probably more likely he would stay than go
06:57at the moment. Who knows? It depends how far Fenerbahce want to go in terms of an offer.
07:03Because it was reported at £11 million. I think if you keep towards £15 million,
07:08I think you've got a decision to make. I would let him go personally. Obviously, we don't
07:14know the inner calculations of the PSR world and how much that would actually add into
07:19the pot. But I think it sounds like a bit of a no brainer to me. It's a lad who I haven't
07:23been amazingly impressed by. He hasn't played. You've got Sven Botman coming back in. You've
07:27got Matt Target at some extent at left back. Lewis Hall shining there. There's a lot of
07:32competition. There's cover, isn't there? Yeah. Emil Kraft comes back into the squad, plays
07:36centre half right back, probably play left back if you really need him. He's that type
07:40of player. It just feels like they are covered and you probably could lose a player or two
07:45and it wouldn't massively weaken them. I do wonder if Eddie Howard's really got trauma
07:50of what happened last season where he was down to the bare bones for so long that he
07:54might not be in the mood to be letting anybody go when everything in the season is still
07:59to play for. I think he probably will be reluctant. I've been critical of that in the past in
08:04some respects but I really can't understand it this time round. Why would a manager intentionally
08:10want to weaken what he already has? However, the club could also look at it and say why
08:15the hell would you want to weaken your PSR position when you've got a chance to actually
08:19sell players for actual money, which doesn't happen very often. Traditionally, bad sellers
08:24in the last couple of years. So, January could be a chance to change that, who knows?
08:29All that said, Miguel Almiron, reports from the athletic David Olmsteen, Atlanta United.
08:40Sounds like there's a possibility that may happen. Advanced talks was used, which I think
08:45with Almiron, it's been 12 months of speculation around his future. I felt like he's been closer
08:50going. He was very, very close to going 12 months ago when they agreed a fee with the
08:54Saudi Pro League team, which we think was Al-Shabaab, which of course is a team that
08:58Martin Dubravka, we thought was going to, not now. It does feel like Almiron's time
09:03at the club sort of came to an end and if Newcastle can get the money they want for
09:07him, which it sounds like they might be able to do, then I think it probably makes sense
09:11that they didn't go. I think it would be great business. They get talked about and
09:15we don't know if the speculation is true of course. Eddie Howell, when he was asked during
09:20a press conference, was very straight with the answer, wasn't he? Yeah, he said he had
09:24nothing to give us preparing for the game. Straight back as usual, something that you
09:31tend to expect. If the speculation is true, I think it would represent really good business
09:36from a Newcastle perspective. I think Eddie Howell will be looking at can we get somebody
09:41in to replace him and I don't really think that's probably on the cards. Yeah, you never
09:48know. That's the problem I think because of Harvey Barnes's injury. If you do lose an
09:53attacking player, you are quite short in that area, in the wide areas. But Almiron is a
09:57player that has been really, totally out of the picture since March time. I think he's
10:03been two Premier League starts since March. He comes on every now and then but he's slipped
10:08down the pecking order at Newcastle. Jacob Murphy has surpassed him, which not many would
10:12have predicted that. I was saying that before to somebody speaking outside. I think this
10:16is probably the most consistent Jacob Murphy we've ever seen. We've talked about before
10:21he's a five game man. He'll come in and do a job for you for a bit and then get found
10:25out and then drop out. Over the last couple of seasons he's done that. He's had a couple
10:29of moments, a couple of games where he's been poor, maybe in this run of good form.
10:33But you're going back, this is looking like two months of good Jacob Murphy really contributing
10:39to the team and I thought he'd put a good shift in again today. Weirdly, he was the
10:44one who didn't contribute in terms of goals. He was probably the most impressive of the
10:47front three. The other two were not impressive at all despite scoring and creating goals.
10:54Absolutely. Let's wrap it up there. Let's wrap it up. We'll see you again Bournemouth
10:58on Saturday. Press conference. Press conference with me and then we'll be back as a duo for
11:06Bournemouth on Saturday. See you then.