Alexander Isak criticism is daft – I’m making a massive bet that he’ll outscore Newcastle’s Osula and Wissa COMBINED

ALEXANDER ISAK failed to score on his return to Newcastle, so apparently that makes him bang average. Did Erling Haaland not miss a sitter against Bournemouth? But he is still steaming towards the Golden Boot according to everyone. Liverpool’s Alexander Isak failed to score in his return to St James Park Credit: Getty Troy Deeney backs Isak to outscore Newcastle’s Osula and Wissa combined Credit: Getty The criticism of Isak for his showing back at St James’ Park, with all that pressure and a new manager, was daft. Add onto that people were angry that he let the designated penalty taker, who scored, take the 99th-minute spot kick and it was all rather baffling to see. Sign up for the Football newsletter Thank you! So I am willing to stick my neck out and say that the Swede will score more than Yoane Wissa and Will Osula combined this season and offer up a £2,000 bet to charity to back it up. To consider Isak a flop, with all the emotion of that opening day, including the Kevin Keegan tributes, is foolish, especially given the forward line he will be playing in this season. Should the Reds be able to add both Bradley Barcola and another former team-mate of mine, Ismaila Sarr from Crystal Palace, that moves the needle and helps Isak a lot. He will then have two wingers either side of him with bags of pace who are also willing to run and work without the ball, opening up space which was not there before. The strongest attribute of both Barcola and Sarr is getting players one-on-one and their profiles are completely different to that of Cody Gakpo and Mo Salah, which could improve things for Isak. Should Barcola come in, then I can see Gakpo being allowed to move on to Tottenham as part of what is going to be a very busy end to the window. Most read in Sport BEST FREE BETS AND BETTING SIGN UP OFFERS It feels as if the World Cup has pushed a lot of the business back towards the end of the window. And I can also see a number of clubs starting to panic, four or five of the bigger boys deciding they suddenly need something before the close. Comment now