Liverpool’s Premier League lead was cut to seven points after they were held to a thrilling 3-3 draw with Newcastle United on Wednesday evening.
Having twice trailed through Alexander Isak and Anthony Gordon, Mohamed Salah added a brace to Curtis Jones’s strike to give the Reds a 3-2 advantage heading into stoppage time, only for Fabian Schar to equalise after a rare mistake from Caoimhin Kelleher.
This, is ever, was on hand to provide our usual mix of player ratings, big-match verdict and post-game analysis. Our colleagues from the national media were also on hand to give their own considered takes. Here’s how they viewed it.
The Independent’s Richard Jolly writes: “If delaying and running the clock down formed part of Liverpool’s negotiating strategy, the problem they have is that, with every game, Mohamed Salah further strengthens his hand in contract talks.
There can be a reason to wait before committing to a player in his thirties, to see if there is evidence of decline. Not when the player is Salah.
“He can seem the great exception, in this as in much else, the man who improves with time. While Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino languish in Saudi Arabia, lucratively rewarded for the reputations forged at Anfield, their old sidekick was spinning and shooting, scoring and starring in the Tyneside rain, equalling a personal best, setting a Premier League record.
“On an extraordinary night in Newcastle there was something normal about how remarkable Salah’s performance was. Or there is something remarkable about how normal this feels from him. In four weeks, he can discuss a summer free transfer to foreign clubs; among them is one that offered £150m for him in 2022, the Saudi Pro League club Al-Ittihad.
“‘Give Mo the dough,’ the banner on the Kop implores; if part of the calculation for Fenway Sports Group is not what he has done, but what he will do, then, halfway through his 33rd year, Salah is the most dynamic, devastating attacker in the Premier League.”
Sam Wallace, of The Telegraph, pens: “This felt like another night of Salah triumph for a few pulsating moments and then the game swung again, borne along with the same volatile force that had gripped it from the start
“It is 28 years since the great seven-goal Anfield shoot-out between these clubs, when English football was a much less strategic pursuit – a code that had not yet been broken by the weight of all the analysis and scrutiny.
“Yet the greatest compliment you could pay these teams was that they played in that spirit – Newcastle with all their ambition refusing to go quietly. Fabian Schar scored the last of the night’s six goals in the 90th minute, when Caoimhin Kelleher failed to claim a free-kick dropped into his box and the defender just edged it in at the back post.”
In The Times, Hamzah Khalique-Loonat writes: “Ding ding, the Slot machine has finally stopped rolling winners. After charging to seven consecutive victories, Liverpool were held to a draw by a brilliant Newcastle, who equalised at the last.
“Twice the league leaders trailed — to goals from Alexander Isak and Anthony Gordon — yet it was Mohamed Salah involved in all three Liverpool goals, and Trent Alexander-Arnold — with two assists — who changed the course of the match, only for Fabian Schar to capitalise on Caoimhin Kelleher’s error in the 90th minute.
“This was a thriller, with a pulsating energy that kept spectators gripped, but which also exposed Liverpool’s defensive frailties. Without Ibrahima Konaté, they appear flimsy. Even with both Joe Gomez and Jarell Quansah, Liverpool lacked physicality.
“And Alexander-Arnold’s substitute cameo at right back was a stark reminder that he is irreplaceable, able to conduct play from deep and, critically, ensure Salah is involved — the Egyptian was peripheral in the first half, but decisive in the second.”
In The Guardian, Louise Taylor writes: “As a smile spread slowly across his face, Mohamed Salah kissed the club crest adorning his rain sodden red shirt. The Egyptian’s ninth goal in seven Premier League games, and second on the night, had not merely reinforced Liverpool’s title challenge but strengthened the case for offering a forward who, right now, could probably walk unaided on the River Nile, a lucrative contract extension at Anfield
