Newcastle United’s 17-game unbeaten run has come to an end – but it could’ve been oh-so different at St James’ Park.
After a fast start saw Miguel Almiron denied by a big early save from Alisson, what followed was one of the most cruel 12 minutes of football you’ll see all season.
All of the early pressure came from us, but the Reds took the lead through Darwin Nunez, who latched onto a brilliant Alexander-Arnold through ball and smashed past Nick Pope.
One then became two as Coady Gakpo converted from another sublime pass, this time from Mo Salah. If 2-0 down wasn’t bad enough when we’d been comfortably the better side, a bad start then turned into a disaster.
In an attempt to stop Salah bursting through on goal, Pope handled the ball outside the box to deny a goalscoring opportunity. A red card followed and with that it felt like our hopes of a comeback were all but killed off just 22 minutes in. Not only that, the dismissal meant he will now miss next Sunday’s Carabao Cup final. Absolutely heartbreaking for Pope and a huge, huge blow.
We could’ve easily felt sorry for ourselves, gone into our shells and accepted defeat, yet the response was superb. Going down to 10 cut short Elliot Anderson’s first Premier League start, seeing Almiron drop into a midfield three and Saint-Maximin join Isak up top in more of a 4-3-2.
The Frenchman was superb all evening and almost pulled a goal back, with a mazy run ending in a brilliant effort that clipped the bar after another big save from Alisson. Then, just moments before the break, Dan Burn hit the woodwork after powering a free header off the underside of the crossbar.
There was a similar theme at the beginning of the second half. Liverpool had the man advantage but it was Newcastle who always looked the more likely side to score. That in itself was admirable and highlighted how well we reacted to going a man down, yet so bittersweet. On another night, we’d have won this.
Saint-Maximin set up Isak, who fired a snapshot over, Schar headed wide and Wilson had a huge chance to pull a goal back blocked by Alisson. We played well over an hour with 10 men, yet we ended the game with more shots than Liverpool.
With the final in mind, Howe took off Trippier, Joelinton, Isak and Almiron, bringing on the likes of Murphy, Ritchie, Gordon and Wilson for the final 30 minutes.
Liverpool had plenty of chances to extend their lead late on, with Jota going close on several occasions and Nunez drawing a big save from Dubravka. In the end, two moments of quality and Pope’s error did the damage, yet it was a performance to be proud of in so many respects.
If we can look the better side with 10 men against Liverpool, we can beat Manchester United with 11 men next weekend.
The 17-game unbeaten run is over, we’ve lost at St James’ Park for the first time since last May and Pope will miss the final next weekend, but it’s not all doom and gloom on a damaging night for Newcastle.
(4-3-3): Pope – Trippier, Schar, Botman, Burn – Anderson, Longstaff, Joelinton, Anderson – Almiron, Isak, Saint-Maximin.
SUBS: Dubravka, Dummett, Lascelles, Gordon, Wilson, Ritchie, Lewis, Manquillo, Murphy.
There areother elements to almirons game that might present him in a better light but aye in an attacking sense .. he is an AM after all .. there’s little to debate from me
Given the TM value prem quotes this maybe be an approach to protect that value as doubtful they’ll get 20m in his last year altho id be sceptical they’d get anywhere near 20m at any point. (I’m actually talking myself out of this view 🤣🤣🤣)
There is no info other than length on how the contract is structured ( at least that I’ve seen) and his money maybe setup as a player sliding towards a squad position .
Tell-Me-Ma-Mag(aka GoWest!Mag)(Quote)
I’d take £20m in a heart beat.
Sharpy17(Quote)
I think Ten Haag has done an amazing job at Man Utd since going in there.
The way he’s conducted himself through a difficult transition & moving Ronaldo out the club and all of the off field issues too – he’s done it in a very classy way.
So his comments pre final about the time wasting stuff is really disappointing – especially when that was his own teams tactics in the closing stages of that Barca game.
I think he let himself down with those comments & if he had confidence in his team taking the lead and beating us – us time wasting shouldn’t even be a concern.
Sharpy17(Quote)
mind games mate, he had a meeting with Fergie, that’ll be his idea . Same with Rashford being a possible doubt with injury, not having it, he’ll play we all know it.
kimtoon(Quote)
Kim – Fergie was a sh!thouse. I don’t think Ten Haag should or needs to resort to those type of tactics – it’s not something I’ve seen from him before those comments.
Howe could quit easily go on about the Man Utd players surrounding the ref for every decision. But he doesn’t resort to that & more credit to him for that.
Biggest sh!thouses in the league at the mo are Klopp & Arteta without doubt.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Has anyone seen the photo of Mehrdad and Jamie Ruebens undercover with the fans 😂
Absolute love these owners like. What a pair of legends!!
Sharpy17(Quote)
Yeah very cool
kimtoon(Quote)