There is no sugar-coating it now. There can be no more claim or counter-claim about what Alexander Isak might be thinking and it blows apart Newcastle United’s policy of containment this summer. They have attempted to tough it out, to see through a testing transfer window with the aim of keeping their best player, tip-toeing around the fact that he is refusing to play for them. They have not attacked him.In Eddie Howe’s words, they have kept the door “well and truly open.”Isak has shown Newcastle — his team-mates, staff and fans — what he thinks of that door, slamming it in Howe’s face and setting fire to the entire building while he is at it. Although he has not yet submitted an official transfer request, he has done the next worst thing. By going public the intention is to force through a move to Liverpool. The result is a ratcheting up of pressure and a further souring of relations before the two clubs play on Monday night.The initial response from the top at Newcastle was to dig in further. With the end of the transfer window racing towards them, there is no longer an obvious replacement for Isak, let alone the two strikers they would need if his departure was sanctioned (they played without an established centre-forward at Villa Park last weekend). A lack of money has not been their issue, but rather a lack of options. As they said in their own statement, “The conditions of a sale this summer have not transpired.”For now, they are insisting that Isak stays: “We do not foresee those conditions being met.” In private, their mood has hardened, which may not quite be what Isak and his camp intended. There has been frustration at Isak’s stance, the influence of his representatives and irritation with the nature of Liverpool’s pursuit, but there was a longer, calmer game to be played. Behind the diplomacy of the public insistence that Isak remains “part of our family and will be welcomed back when he is ready to rejoin his teammates,” there is also fury.And, yes, before anybody points this out, a comparable situation has been taking place in reverse at Brentford with Yoane Wissa, a longstanding Newcastle target who is engaged in his own guerrilla warfare against his present employers, flying home early from a training camp, not playing for the club in pre-season and most recently removing all links to Brentford on his social media platforms. In football, you will find the moral high ground balancing on a pinhead.