After completing a league double over this opposition last season, Liverpool managed to beat Newcastle United again at St James’ Park on Sunday thanks to two late strikes from substitute Darwin Nunez (81′, 90+3′) after former Everton winger Anthony Gordon put the hosts ahead in the first half (25 minutes).
A game
It was certainly a strange game. Liverpool immediately started on the wrong foot, and the entire first half looked like a failure from their point of view. Trent Alexander-Arnold received an early warning for preventing Newcastle from taking a throw-in by dropping the ball and shortly thereafter committed a foul that caused the stadium stands to explode, demanding the removal of a Liverpool right-back. This, of course, would have been tough, but referee John Brooks did not succumb to this, and this time the cards remained in his pocket.
However, Alexander-Arnold soon made a terrible mistake by failing to control Mohamed Salah’s back pass, and Gordon was ready to take advantage of Alisson Becker one-on-one to open the scoring.
Soon the position of the guests became much worse. Just three minutes later Virgil van Dijk fouled Alexander Isak as the last defender and Brooks promptly presented a red card to the Liverpool captain. If the player and the goal were conceded, the prospect of Liverpool getting anything from the game looked very bleak indeed.
By the way, Liverpool may have gotten the red card that Alexis Mac Allister received in the previous game cancelled, but this one will likely stand even if they appeal again.
Naturally, Newcastle controlled the game from that point on without much difficulty and, failing to increase their lead with a few good chances, continued to dominate the second half. Miguel Almiron made several attempts, forcing Alisson to make one extremely difficult save and hit the post after the break.
But Liverpool somehow managed to stay in the game, only occasionally looking to hit back, although there was one short period of about five minutes when they completely pushed the hosts back and connected several corners.
Winger Luis Diaz was the player that Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp sacrificed after Van Dijk was sent off, forced to make way for Joe Gomez. Gomez and Joel Matip did a good job on defense, all things considered.
In the 58th minute, Klopp made a double substitution, putting on Diogo Hota and Harvey Elliott for Cody Gakpo and Wataru Endo, and in the 77th minute, Matip and Alexis Mac Allister gave way to young Jarrell Kuansa and Darwin Nunez.
It will be an exciting Premier League debut for the 20-year-old centre-back, but the emergence of Nunez on top of Jota and Elliot proved decisive. In the 81st minute, Jota made a good pass to Nunez and the Uruguayan striker took advantage of Sven Botman’s moment of clumsiness to intercept the ball and strike, beating Nick Pope in the Newcastle goal.
Eddie Howe on the Newcastle bench had already thrown his remaining offensive options into the fray and now had no choice but to hope that Callum Wilson and Harvey Barnes, who replaced Isak and Gordon respectively, could help his team win. But it wasn’t supposed to be.
Stoppage time was already in full swing when Elliot won the ball for Liverpool in the middle of the park, and Salah again sent Nunez into the box. With a very similar finish, very close to the final whistle, the former Benfica striker beat Pope once more and sent the seating area of the stands into wild celebration.
Newcastle missed and penalized
As Howe himself admitted after the game, his team played well against an opponent whose quality is hard to deny, even when they have fewer players on the field. He noted that his attackers had a chance to finish the game, but they did not.
Clearly motivated as a former Everton player, Gordon was by far the best Newcastle player at the time. He was a constant threat on the left flank, tormenting Alexander-Arnold with speed and cunning. He went around the Liverpool right-back on several occasions, both inside and out.
But in the end, his efforts were for the most part overwhelmed by the opposition’s numbers, except for a few times when he shot straight at Alisson or hired someone else, with almost the same result. What Newcastle really needed was at least one of Almiron’s shots to hit the net, but the Paraguayan shot wide of the net a couple of times, forced Alisson to save, and he was very unlucky when he hit the post.
This is an aspect of the game where Liverpool have clearly done better, patiently waiting for their own chances and converting them when they come. The vision of Jota and Salah, combined with Nunez’s freshness and focus in front of Pope’s goal, proved to be decisive.
Alisson Becker
There can be no doubt that Nunes is the man behind Liverpool’s resurgence and victory in this match, but little would have been possible without Alisson in goal. Almiron’s shot, which few goalkeepers in the world would have stopped, was the moment when the Brazilian international saved his team, and shortly before Nunez’s winning goal, Sean Longstaff had a chance to win this goal for Newcastle.
It was not an easy chance and the Magpies midfielder should be commended for how cleverly he tried to get the ball past the Liverpool goalkeeper, but Alisson again got the job done and kept it from very close range. Again, the outcome of the match would probably have been different if someone else had been standing in the goal at that moment.
Year after year, Alisson proves himself to be one of the best players in Liverpool’s glorious era under Klopp.
What. A. Goalkeeper. pic.twitter.com/jnRlJrs8xJ
— Liverpool (@LFC) August 27, 2023