Football News: Newcastle United v Liverpool

Newcastle United v Liverpool

I have to admit I was dreading this match going into it, purely because all week I had been reading quotes and listening to podcasts with Pep Lijnders. All of it gave me the fear, his conceit is obscene, everything was about 'I did this' and 'I thought of this', except that as he went on talking about it he would reveal that he copied all of the ideas from somewhere else! He really worries me in that it is constantly me, me, me and I, I, I, with very little we or us involved. But what bothered me most is that he is so adamant that this idiotic inverted full-back system will work if they just keep using it. In fact he seems to think that it is that which has seen Liverpool on an unbeaten run, rather than anything to do with the top class players in the team! Klopp has always built the incredible team spirit amongst the players by being all about the team, the us, the we, rather than me or I, Lijnders is clearly not learning anything from that example and I really feel that his input as assistant is unhelpful at best. In fact his tactical input is nothing but a hindrance.

Before I start the actual match review itself, just a quick note on the performance of the referee, who was abysmal. He was very favourable to the home team, it was almost like he thought Newcastle were Manchester City and Joelinton was Fernandinho/Rodri with him being allowed to make so many late fouls and tactical fouls without a card. For all the outcry about him not sending off Alexander-Arnold, it is astonishing that no one has noticed that he let Newcastle players away with multiple bookings and that the second 'foul' was more of a dive by Gordon. The sending off of van Dijk is for me one of those decisions that can go either way, it was good play by Isak to move himself in between the ball and van Dijk to draw a foul, rather than an attempt to go through him to get the ball. Yes it was 100% a foul, but a red card is harsh in my opinion. But it is harsh rather than ridiculous and so not something I could see the point in appealing against. Personally I would not even consider that one a bad decision, it is just the rules are harsh. Either way I am not sure how a refereeing performance so bad can be allowed at what is, after all, the top level of the game. If a player was so bad he would never get another game for his team, but this guy will be running out at the big stadiums for another 10 years plus. It really beggars belief at times.

As for Liverpool's performance, it was the same old, same old. Awful, disjointed and overrun while trying to play with Alexander-Arnold as an inverted full-back, only to revert to a standard back four when down to ten men and immediately look much better. I just do not understand how Klopp can not see it. It makes sense that Lijnders would have a blind spot, as it is his baby playing this way, he pushed and fought for it. He will be looking for positives rather than negatives, as we humans tend to do, to prove ourselves right. It is why people abuse stats to badly online, they look for only those which match their viewpoint and ignore any that disagree. Klopp needs to have someone on the staff who can present quite the opposite view at all times, like kings used to employ naysayers. Someone whose job is simply to point out the flaws in everything they do, so that they consider both sides, rather than just having yes men telling them everything is great. There is so much there to point out in terms of flaws in this idiotic inverted full-back system, that any half-decent analysis should be screaming at Klopp to dump it as a starting set up.

Overall LFC did not play well though, there were a ridiculous number of loose passes that just handed possession back far too easily and needlessly. While they did look a lot more solid defensively following the reversion to a back four and the inclusion of Endo helped, the poor passing was a worry. It was particularly obvious when trying to play out from defence. With the lack of width, it was a real struggle to get out. In fact it took until the arrival of Jota, with instructions to take up the space left by Trippier pushing forward, to fix that issue and give the team an out ball. Understandable that with ten men it became a problem though, and good to see that the space was spotted and a man brought on to make use of it. I am sure Lijnders will be in the media during the week telling us all how that was all his doing as well! Either way, it was the moment the game turned, along with bringing on Elliott to provide some fresh legs and energy from a deeper position.

Newcastle I have to say disappointed me. They had a lead, Liverpool were down to ten men, the referee was favouring them and they had the opposition right-back on a yellow, but somehow they failed to take advantage. They created almost nothing. What it showed is how Gordon lacks ability to do anything other than take a shot. When the shot was on, he took it and scored. When a shot was not on, he ended up wasting chance after chance to create something against a defender who could not challenge him. He is not a winger, England U21s had it right playing him up top as his strength is pace and shooting. He lacks intelligence and goes down far too easily, oh unless he is clean through on goal of course. What they do have is an exceptional central midfield but not a lot else, certainly nothing of the same level. Plenty of effort (at least in this game, not so sure the same could be said last time out against Manchester City when they just rolled over to have their tummies tickled) but a real lack of top class players.

The keeper is a particular weakness, Pope flaps at crosses, is very slow to come off his line leading to awkward situations when sweeping up easy balls, and his kicking is atrocious. The defence is too slow, which is what gave Nunez his chances, and only Botman is good enough for a team that has hopes of challenging for the title. Up front they have Wilson and Isak who simply do not score enough goals and two brainless wingers. They over achieved last season, more because of the poor seasons for the other top clubs than because of their quality, and it looks like this season could be a lot more difficult for them. After the way they gifted third place to Manchester United last season, I do wonder if Howe's job will be on the line before this season is done. It may be harsh but he raised the bar last season and they do not look to be capable of reaching that bar this season. It also cannot help his cause that his substitutions had such a negative effect on the game, though I am sure he would argue that is down to the lack of quality in his squad.

What Newcastle do well is to get away with fouls. Only Fernandinho and Rodri can normally get away with as many clearly bookable offences in a game as Joelinton managed. Added to that, Newcastle constantly left a late foot in after the ball had gone, none of which were punished. Against a more volatile or weaker side than Liverpool, that will give the Toon a very big advantage. As well as that, they applied a press at goal kicks very well, that is something that has definitely been very heavily worked on. On top of that, they have three central midfielders in the shape of Joelinton, Tonali and, particularly, Bruno Guimaraes that are a match for pretty much any team. It is a shame that their passing was not up to the mark, they messed up so many chances due to poor passing out to wide areas. The passes were not even that difficult, but they could not get them right.

Quick notes on the players:
Apologies Ed77 did not provide me his ratings for today but I think all of us Liverpool fans should thank him for removing Nunez from his fantasy football team.

Liverpool:

Alisson: What a keeper. What a save! What more needs to be said? He is the difference in so many games, exactly what you want from your goalkeeper.

Alexander-Arnold: started off with a great through ball to Szoboszlai, into space vacated by Salah dragging the defender wide but then it all went pear-shaped. First off it was a clear foul by Gordon, which somehow the referee saw fit to ignore, as he did repeatedly to fouls by Newcastle players, but Alexander-Arnold allowed himself to get annoyed and show annoyance by throwing the ball away. It is an automatic booking and a needless one. Then Gordon dived to try and get him sent off after feeling the slightest brush of hot breath. It was clear that for a while he had completely lost focus, which led to a lack of control letting the ball loose and Gordon was onto it to score. It was not until van Dijk was sent off and he was handed the armband that he seemed to get his head right. After that he grew. He was still unable to get a challenge in against Gordon, but he was positioning himself to make it difficult for the Newcastle man and give time for cover to arrive. He also stayed wide, which helped the team as a whole. It was a learning experience for him, but he did show that he could defend, including one clearance that eluded the rest of the defence. I just wish that this would see the end of the inverted full-back experiment, it is clearly not helping anyone, particularly Alexander-Arnold.

Matip: struggled early on, as he was almost playing as a right-back. It made it impossible to play out from the back, with men on top of him the moment he received the ball and all his options man-marked. The minute Liverpool made the switch back to a standard back four he was much better and had a decent game. Though it may be said he was not really put under any real pressure by a very toothless Newcastle performance, I would say that he made sure not to put himself under any pressure by concentrating on his positioning. Without the need to constantly drift out wide, he just looked so much more confident and comfortable.

van Dijk: hard to assess his performance as he really was not under any real pressure with Newcastle looking to play almost entirely down the right, away from him and then he got sent off. It was an error by him, he was beaten to the ball, but you have to give plaudits to Isak for getting his body in the way to protect the ball too. It has to go down as poor play by van Dijk, as he had no need to make the challenge, he would not normally have taken that risk.

Robertson: defensively it was not a good performance, even after the change to a normal back four. He struggled to contain Almiron. His delivery, particularly from set pieces, was mainly good though and provided a threat.

Endo: I am not sure why he is being criticised. He was positionally sound and Newcastle struggled to build anything down the centre. On the ball he was struggling, but he has barely even met his teammates yet, so a lot of that was because he was unable to move the ball quickly as he did not have an instinctive idea of where to play the pass. A solid start to build on though.

Mac Allister: looked much better playing with more freedom. He provided a good platform for the team to play off.

Szoboszlai: once again a stand out over the 90 minutes. He is looking like a bargain right now.

Diaz: had not really got into the game properly before being the man chosen to come off after the sending off. Not a good way to end your 50th appearance, but someone had to make way.

Salah: he once again turns up when it matters for the club. Not only did he provide an assist, but he worked his socks off for the team, at one point playing right-back to cover when Alexander-Arnold was caught up field (I think after he took a corner if I remember correctly) despite getting little credit for his off the ball work most of the time. He might not be scoring at his usual rate this season, but his contribution is always vital. He was the main reason that Newcastle were unable to really push on after Liverpool went down to ten men, as they were always doubled up on him. Even then, he still managed to make a mark on the game.

Gakpo: not his best game, though he did do some nice stuff, he was not given enough of the ball due to Liverpool's poor passing.

Gomez: took Diaz's place after the sending off to shore up the defence and he did his job extremely well. Despite playing on what would be considered his wrong side, in a team with ten men and having two different partners during the game, he was very solid. In fact he is beginning to look something approaching the player we know he can be, or rather was before his injuries. Hopefully he has now reached an age where those injury problems are behind him and he can keep his form. If so, he will be invaluable to this squad, which is severely lacking in another defender who is comfortable on the left side.

Elliott: Klopp brought him on in the 58th minute to replace Endo. It meant a slight reshuffle in midfield, with Elliott and Mac Allister playing as an old fashioned central midfield pair, but worked really well as their energy and quality on the ball wrestled control of the game from Newcastle and pushed them onto the back foot with the aid of Jota.

Jota: also came on in the 58th minute, in place of Gakpo. While he did make some loose passes and also attempted a terrible dive, he also helped to change the game. What you want from your subs is for them to have a positive effect on the game and he did that. He was clearly sent on with instructions to play in the space Trippier was leaving and it worked really well. It was a similar issue to the one Liverpool suffer with when Alexander-Arnold plays as an inverted full-back, the space in behind needs to be covered by a centre-half who is not comfortable there one on one against a forward like Jota, who is happy to run at them, in behind them or across them.

Quansah: was brought on in the place of Matip in the 77th minute for his competitive debut. It was good to see him repay the faith shown in him by playing a decent game, though he was under little real pressure with Newcastle looking to have run out of ideas by this point.

Nunez: also came on in the 77th minute, though he replaced Mac Allister as Klopp went more attacking. It certainly paid off as Nunez absolutely destroyed Burns, who was now in the centre of defence due to Botman going off injured. The Newcastle defence just had no answer to him, even when they gave themselves a few yards head start Nunez's pace was too much for them to cope with and his finishing was excellent in this game. Two goals to secure an unlikely win made him many people's man of the match.

Klopp: he still persists in starting with the inverted full-back nonsense which is a major black mark against him, but he knows how to build squad togetherness and desire in his players. That was the key to the win. The Liverpool players just wanted the win a bit more than Newcastle. Surely now he must see that the reversion to a normal back four improves the team performance by a massive, obvious, degree?

Written by Tris Burke August 29 2023 18:53:38