Newcastle ‘could’ve scored one or two’ more but attacker ‘looked lost’ as UCL dream fizzled out | OneFootball

Alexander Isak protests during game for Newcastle

Paul Merson felt Alexander Isak “looked lost” when he came on for Newcastle against AC Milan, and the Magpies “could’ve scored one or two more” goals in the loss.

Newcastle were handed a tough task in trying to get through to the Champions League knockouts for the first time. Indeed, Borussia Dortmund, Paris Saint-Germain and AC Milan was by far the hardest group in the competition.

They gave themselves a chance going into the last game, though, having beaten PSG and drawn to them, as well as drawing against Milan.

At one point in the night, they were going through, having gone up against the Italian side at St James’ Park, while the other game went in their favour.

However, Milan hit back twice, through Christian Pulisic and then Samuel Chukwueze, to dump them out.

Merson felt that Isak, who started on the bench, offered little when he came on for Anthony Gordon in the second half, and the Magpies could have scored more than they did.

“I just thought when it got into a gung-ho game, he put Isak on the left. Thought he was a bit lost out on the left, if I’m honest. And in the end they could have scored another one or two goals,” Merson said on Soccer Special.

Indeed, there was one very good chance for Newcastle in the first-half, when Fikayo Tomori denied Miguel Almiron with a last-gasp challenge that, had the forward known he was there, he’d probably not have been able to make in time.

In fairness to Isak, one of the best chances to go ahead when the game was at 1-1 could have been assisted by him, when just after coming on, he cut back and played the ball to Bruno Guimaraes, and his strike looked destined to nestle in the back of the net before Mike Maignan pulled off a great save.

It could be said that Isak does not stretch the play and utilise his skills on the wing in the same way that Gordon would, but he is naturally a central striker, and it’s not as if Gordon was causing major headaches, or he’d have stayed on.

In any case, that’s moot now, and Newcastle will hope they can get another chance in Europe next year.