Oh yes they can. They most certainly can. So let it happen.
Alexander Isak and Callum Wilson might both be international centre-forwards, who because of what it says on the tin Eddie Howe has staunchly resisted starting in harness, but together at Brentford they turned a potential dire defeat into glorious victory.
In the shadow of Heathrow, they were high flyers in an unrecognisable Newcastle second-half revival which produced a fifth successive Premier League maximum return.
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Isak scored a sensational winner, assisted by Wilson, who then 'scored' himself with a trademark finish only for an interfering VAR to rule it out.
They looked made for one another. Blues Brothers in arms. Ten goals for Wilson, eight for Isak. Come on, let them loose.
Despite politically correct utterings by Howe, the master PR, about the fact that they can play together, the bottom line is that he has never once put them on the same starting sheet. Will he change his mind now?
The concern in a tactician's mind is that Wilson and Isak shoulder to shoulder leaves gaps elsewhere in United's armoury which can be exploited but with Joelinton standing guard on middle ground that danger is greatly reduced.
Is there any skill that Isak cannot master? He looks the full package and he is different to Wilson, far from a replica, which is why they are able to operate shoulder together in a front three rather than get in each other's way.
Football has moved on a'pace tactically but strike partnerships have always been part of folklore. Macdonald and Tudor, Andy Cole and Peter Beardsley, Demba Ba and Papiss Cisse. So why not? Nothing is new, just reinvented.
United have never been worse than in the first-half, never better than in the second. Take a bow Eddie. You made the big calls at half-time bringing on Wilson to play in tandem with Isak, slipping the leash on Anthony Gordon, and switching Joelinton into centre midfield. Each decision turned out to be a golden nugget.
Wilson and Isak for sure, but Joelinton was a colossus blocking off the service to Ivan Toney while driving forward himself which brought the crucial equaliser, and all Gordon's pent up emotion at a stuttering start to his Newcastle career was uncorked.
If the combination of Wilson and Isak dominated Geordie thought then let us not forget about Joelinton, the failed centre-forward who has discovered himself as the Patrick Vieira of a powerhouse team whose impact is beyond over statement.
In terms of the great unexpected United are the new Leicester, the team that against all odds won the Premier League title. The Foxes had dramatically emerging superstars like N'Golo Kante, Riyad Mahrez, Danny Drinkwater, Kasper Schmeichel and Jamie Vardy where United have Bruno, Isak, Nick Pope, Kieran Trippier, Sven Botman, and Callum Wilson. The secret? Sell no one of note and buy more. Leicester and their stars could not avoid the seduction of the super rich but we can.
This Newcastle side simply does not know when it is beaten. It was at half-time but, geed up by Howe's intervention, they reverted to nature and swept the Bees into oblivion.
Toney, once a Magpie of course, ought to have beaten his old club by himself early doors. He had one goal chalked off by VAR, missed a penalty which he had never done since 2018, and then scored a spot kick to give Brentford a deserved 1-0 lead.
Such has been their emergence as genuine Premier League performers that only leaders Arsenal had triumphed on their midden this season and that was way back in September. So surely this would go on to become a game too far for Newcastle!
No way, the facts of history were to remain intact. Brentford have never won in eight league meetings with United dating back to January of 1948 and they have conceded at least twice in all those matches letting in a grand total of 24.
Of course Newcastle are a different animal these happy days. They remain unbeaten in a dozen league fixtures against London opposition where once they were timid upon entering the capital and sometimes tortured.
We love it, really love it, even if a stunned and shocked world prefers to talk about Saudi money and the dark arts. Really? We care not because we know better!
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