In a game that was difficult to assess whether or not this was a good point for Liverpool, the disappointment etched over the players’ faces as they made their exit gave you the answer. Having twice trailed, the visitors were unable to hold on to their lead and were instead forced to settle for a 3-3 draw as Newcastle United gave them their most taxing examination of the campaign to date.
The defeat against Nottingham Forest, when a disciplined defensive outfit caught their hosts cold with a late counter-attack, is a fate that can befall any side, but this game posed much grander questions of a Liverpool team who bounced into the week on the back of pulsating victories over Real Madrid and Manchester City.
This draw won’t have downsized any Premier League title ambitions but it was an acute reminder that they won’t have all their own way between now and May. For those whose glasses are half full, the mental reserves, the resilience and the attitude are causes for optimism. For others, who prefer to look at things with a different slant, the nervy defending and unease in the face of a vociferous home support might be cause for concerned debate.
Victories for Arsenal and Chelsea have now chopped their advantage down to seven at the summit to offer a reminder, if it were needed, that nothing is won yet.
Factor in the absences of Diogo Jota, Alisson Becker, Conor Bradley, Ibrahima Konate, Kostas Tsimikas and even Federico Chiesa, whose return for the Under-21s saw him score on Wednesday night, and this was the first time Arne Slot might have quietly bemoaned the list of those on the shelf. It’s a familiar story, injuries have hurt this squad figuratively and literally for too long now.
The fact that the Reds started with three of their first-choice back five not on the pitch here – and that’s not including Tsimikas, who is as close to being a regular starter as he has ever been at Anfield just now – laid bare how stretched things are.
In what was the firm favourite for the worst 45 minutes of the season, Liverpool struggled getting out of their own half and were penned in by Newcastle’s aggression and energy. The visitors looked flustered by the insatiable chasing of Eddie Howe’s men, with the right side of the back four in Jarell Quansah, in for Trent Alexander-Arnold, and Joe Gomez looking particularly unable to deal with the flow of traffic
Ryan Gravenberch was a pale imitation of the classy, press-resistant midfielder he has been all season, as he constantly got his pocket picked in dangerous areas. The Dutchman has been different class but there is a danger of overextending him and a rest after Everton is a must.
Newcastle’s lead was nothing less than they deserved and it was Alexander Isak who rattled it in after Bruno Guimaraes had skipped past Alexis Mac Allister before playing a pass that opened up the Reds midfield. Isak still had plenty to do but his strike flew past Caoimhin Kelleher.
Mac Allister was also booked meaning he will now sit out Saturday’s Merseyside derby. At a time when Harvey Elliott is still short of match fitness and Wataru Endo remains largely out of favour, the absence of the Argentina World Cup winner is far from ideal this weekend.
The experiment of Quansah at right-back failed to yield little in an attacking sense, which was to be expected of a more traditional centre-back but Anthony Gordon also gave the England Under-21 international a torrid time defensively too. The former Everton winger tore at him every chance he got as the Magpies knocked on the door all half.
The second half brought an instant change in application from Slot’s side, who had their leveller five minutes after the restart via Curtis Jones’s deflected effort, which owed so much to the ingenuity of Mohamed Salah’s outside-of-the-foot pass. That was his 12th assist of the campaign and No.99 as a Liverpool player, for those keeping score.
Gordon, who tormented his boyhood club, made it 2-1 after cutting inside Gomez before it was left to Salah to take centre stage after the introduction of Alexander-Arnold, who instantly added more quality in the final third.
It was the excellent Alexander-Arnold’s ball across the face for Salah to register his 12th of the season before another cut-back from the vice-captain looked to have sealed a winner after a sensational swivel and finish past Nick Pope.
At some stage – one we are likely way past, as it goes – the idea of financial prudence, and strategic long-term planning simply must go out the window when players as rare as Salah are desperate to remain at your football club.
Fenway Sport Group’s self-sustainable model imposed on Liverpool has to make a special allowance for Salah, who can lay a genuine claim to being the world’s best player right now. Those levels aren’t going to drop off a cliff anytime soon, so a compromise, however costly, has to be reached. Sporting endeavour must come before hard-nosed business this time.
The arguments against offering top scorer Salah a new contract are getting fewer and fewer by the game right now. Once more, he was Liverpool’s main man here as he supplied an assist for Jones before a brace of his own. The aforementioned disappointment on the visitors’ faces was writ large on his most of all as he made his way down the tunnel. He, maybe more than anyone, wants to win this title in a campaign that so far appears to be his last. It cannot come to that, surely?
Despite the valiant comeback, there was to be a sting in the tail as Fabian Schar snuck around the back to level after Guimaraes’s long punt into the box evaded Kelleher for what is his first mistake since replacing Alisson two months ago. It would be cruel to criticise the Ireland international for that mishap, in much the same way it would be to bemoan the lack of three points. The players, as evidenced by their post-match expressions, did that for themselves.
A game that was tough to truly make sense of was best summed up by one Newcastle player as he made his own beeline for the exit after the game. In four words, Tino Livramento provided the perfect analysis, stating: “What a game, wow!” Indeed. On to Everton then.
