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“Haha no it’s legal to kick you mate, we’ve all decided.” | Photo by Robbie Jay Barratt - AMA/Getty Images
After a dreadful performance somehow ends with a point, we dig into some of the winners and losers on the night.
Liverpool entered tonight’s game after a phenomenal week that had seen them excise the demons of both Real Madrid and Manchester City, extending their lead at the top of the Premier League table to nine points, facing off with Newcastle side who had just picked up a point at Crystal Palace after having been outshot 16-1.
None of that mattered once the whistle had gone, though, as the hosts outbattled their visitors for the majority of the 90 minutes, throwing themselves first and most aggressively into every duel and coming out on top far more often than not, deservedly taking the lead twice, before pouncing on a Kelleher mistake to level the score as the 90 minute mark approached.
Had it not been for human cheat code Mohamed Salah, this game would no doubt have gone down as a loss and a serious crack in the unimpeachable veneer of the Reds’ first third of the campaign. Instead, it can be written off as an off-night, a brave fightback, a good point at a tough ground.
With all that said, then, we provide a quick word on the winners and losers on the night.
Winners
That Man: There wasn’t that much to put in the Win Column for the Reds tonight, but Mohamed Salah has set up shop there and isn’t moving. With two goals and an assist, the Egyptian took his total tally on the season to 27 — one every 63 minutes — while also setting a record for most games with a goal and an assist in Premier League history, completing that feat for the 37th time.
We’re not even gonna touch on the contract thing here, he has more than twice as many goal involvements as the best paid player in the world this season, the numbers speak for themselves. We’re just gonna appreciate that first-touch, wrong-foot finish into the far corner to equalise and that touch and swivel that gave the Reds the lead and leave it at that.
Also Salah was limping at the end there, having picked up something that looked like it was troubling his calf. Everybody cross your everything that it’s nothing serious.
Trent: Having looked more than a little replaceable as of late, Trent Alexander-Arnold stepped up with two assists tonight, and while he was beaten on all three occasions where an attacker took him on, none of those situations lead to a goal, whereas his attacking contributions were vital to Liverpool bringing a point back to Merseyside.
With the Reds chasing the game and 25 minutes to go, the Scouser came on from the bench, taking 75% of his touches in the opposition half, and making a telling contribution. He may not be as vital to the team’s base play as he was under Jürgen Klopp, but Trent’s ability to find an attacker in the box is still elite.
Losers
Control: Much has been made of the notion that Arne Slot’s Liverpool side are so good because they are supremely control-oriented in a way that Klopp’s team never was, and while this dramatically revises at least four years of the German’s tenure with the club — 2018-2022, specifically — it was also shown tonight to be something that can be wrested away from them given sufficiently tired legs and an appropriately tenacious opponent.
The Reds were constantly second best in duels, late to arrive to second balls, and perpetually perplexed that Newcastle weren’t giving them the space, time and respect that they wanted. It is of course not the first time we see this happen this season, as Ipswich, Southampton and Crystal Palace have all given Liverpool significant trouble through various degrees of aggression and tenacity, but Newcastle were able to maintain their reckless pressure for the entire 90 minutes, and the Reds were unable to ever rein it in.
In the end, the only way out was through, and the goals did not begin showing up until Liverpool threw some of that control to the wind, partaking in a sloppy back and forth contest that the Match of the Day lads will absolutely adore, and those of us who like quality possession and predictability will find a concerning data point.
Andy Mad Lad Madley: No jaw clenching anti-Liverpool diatribe starring Andy Madley has been video taped and released yet, but you wouldn’t be surprised if it was out there judging by how the Yorkshire native refereed this game.
Madley blew twice as many fouls against the visitors, and handed out three times as many bookings, two of which were given for not making contact with Anthony Gordon as he threw he himself to the ground in the theatrical manner for which he is famous enough that referees should be wise to it by now. The injury time handball shout was never gonna be given — nor should it have been — but the triple foul on Luis Díaz preceding it was obscenely blatant and it is difficult to come up with a reasonable justification for not calling it beyond really, really not wanting Liverpool to get a free kick in such a good position.
The Reds did not deserve to win tonight based on their performance, but they still might have, were it not for the referee’s. More like Andy Badley etc.
What Happens Next
The Reds will try to right the ship as they head across Stanley Park for the first Merseyside derby of the season on Saturday lunchtime, before they travel to Spain next Tuesday to take on a Girona side that has taken only three points in the Champions League and is struggling to fight their way back into the European spots domestically.
