I just don’t know how they pulled this off. Despite going down to 10-men just 25 minutes into the game, Liverpool ended up winning 2-1 over Newcastle at Saint James’ Park through an extra-time game winner.
I swear this Liverpool team scores the luckiest goals ever.
Liverpool have once again pulled off another incredible, last-minute comeback victory as they beat Newcastle 2-1 with only 10 men to move into the Top-4 of the Premier League. And, as I’ve said a few times now, this Liverpool side really is the luckiest team in the league.
In no world should Liverpool, who looked utterly useless, cowardly, timid, and downright dreadful for the opening 30 minutes of this game, have won this game. They were beaten off the park by Newcastle in terms of energy, fight, passion, ball control, and just basic play recognition to the point I thought Newcastle was going to put up 3-4 goals against this Liverpool team.
The midfield trio of Alexis MacAllister, Wataru Endō, and Dominik Szoboszlai looked super disjointed and out of sync with one another as if they had never played with each other before…which is pretty much the case as all three of these guys are new signings.
Now, Liverpool’s midfield last season completely collapsed after years of title and Champions League-winning intensity and consistency to the point Jurgen Klopp had to replace nearly everyone (Jordan Henderson, James Milner, Fabinho, Naby Keita, and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlin have all left the club), yet this game showed why it’s important to keep at least one cog from the old midfield as they would have provided a foundational block for the new signings to grow and learn from one another and the Klopp system.
Still, with the midfield in shambles and unable to get the ball to Mo Salah (who might be leaving for Saudi Arabia soon), Luis Diaz, and Cody Gakpo in attack, it was open season for Newcastle’s midfield and attack to go hog wild on Liverpool’s weak backline. And that’s exactly what they did.
Sandro Tonali, Joelinton, and Bruno Guimarães helped the Geordies completely dominate possession of the ball with them maintaining 61% throughout the match, the team completed nearly 600 passes (587) to Liverpool’s 382, Newcastle had a better passing accuracy at 86% to Liverpool’s 79%, and they helped the front three of Anthony Gordon, Alexander Isak, and Miguel Almiron rack up 23 shots (and 8 shots on target).
Gordon was especially the most lethal and dynamic forward Newcastle had today as he was torching Trent Alexander-Arnold down the left-hand side (stop me if you’ve heard that before), he was making devastating through-ball passes that caught out the Liverpool defense, and he was the guy who capitalized on TAA’s mistouch and buried Newcastle’s lone goal through Alisson’s legs to give the Geordies a 1-0 lead just 26 minutes in.
Oh, and he was also directly responsible for Virgil Van Dijk’s red card two minutes later as he was the one who sent the through-ball through the defense for Alexander Isak to run onto…which forced Van Dijk to make an extremely risky, ill-timed tackle that saw him gone for the remaining 75 minutes.
And the onslaught didn’t stop there as Alisson had to make one of the saves of the season thus far off an absolute hammer-strike from Miguel Almirón on the 35th minute, while Newcastle had a few more half chances that just went wide. I really thought we were in for a massacre of epic proportions as the second half kicked off…but Newcastle did something I haven’t seen them do since Eddie Howe and the Saudi’s took over the club: they rested on their laurels.
Instead of pilling on the pressure and attacking Alisson’s goal relentlessly, Newcastle lost their edge and decided to spend the nearly 40 or so minutes passing the ball around, soaking up pressure when Liverpool would attack, and, apart from Miguel Almiron hitting the post in the 75th minute (which is yet another sign of Liverpool being super lucky), they took speculative, half-assed efforts on target….which is the last thing you do against a championship tiger side like Liverpool.
As, with around 10 minutes left and Liverpool running out of time to avoid their first defeat of the season, Jurgen Klopp decided to bring on Darwin Nunez, which was a brilliant substitution as he went on to score in the 82nd minute off a through-ball to tie the game for Liverpool.
And, when the game seemed like it was going to end in a tie, Nunez was sent in on goal once again and finished in the exact same bottom right corner to silence the Geordies crowd, destroy the Newcastle team, and give Liverpool an extremely lucky win.
Now, I know a bunch of Liverpool fans will think that this win shows they’re in a title race and they can compete against the likes of Man City and Arsenal, but I honestly think it shows the complete opposite.
Aside from Klopp’s managerial brilliance (which only goes so far in dictating the result of the game) and their unnatural luck (which can go very far in dictating the result of a match), this Liverpool side was woeful, and their defense was caught out time and time again.
If Newcastle didn’t forget their whole identity after going up 1-0, then they would have walked away with a 4-1 or 5-1 victory. That’s how good Newcastle were and how BAD Liverpool played in those opening 30 minutes, yet Liverpool got lucky once again and now sit in 4th place after three matches.
As for Newcastle, I think this result shows they still need another season of growth and improvement (both on the field, in the dugout, and in the transfer market) before this team can truly take on the Top-6, beat them at their own game, and win the Premier League.
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