By: Shane Brennan.
Liverpool welcomed Newcastle to L4 on Wednesday evening, as The Reds were looking to back up their stunning nine goal victory against Bournemouth last Saturday, but just what did we learn from the encounter?
Liverpool struggled early on to create any meaningful chance, but they did come close to breaking the deadlock when Luis Diaz tried to found Mohamed Salah in the box, but Liverpool’s Egyptian King couldn’t make contact with the football as he was under huge pressure from a resolute Newcastle defence, as the ball raced wide of the right hand post.
Then it was Newcastle’s new signing’s turn to take centre stage as a good counter attack from the Toon Army managed to find Alexander Isak , he attempted to lead the Liverpool defence a merry dance which he succeeded in doing, but thankfully his shot went high and wide on this occasion.
Then Newcastle threatened once again as Matt Targett found Ryan Fraser who spun brilliantly to create space to get his shot away, fortunately his attempt was to also fly over the bar and wide.
The Reds then managed to spring a rare fast paced counter attack on Newcastle, when Alisson Becker threw the ball out to Harvey Elliott, the young Englishman had loads of space to run into, as Liverpool flooded forward the ball found its way to Roberto Firmino who set up Diaz, as he managed to round Nick Pope, The Kop held its breath in anticipation of the opener ,sadly he could only blast the ball into the stand from a tricky angle.
But it was The Magpies that managed to take the lead, thanks to a lovely move which involved Miguel Almirón and Kieran Trippier, the ball eventually came to Sean Longstaff, as he threaded the ball through brilliantly to find Isak as he smashed the ball home with minimal fuss to leave The Toon Army in dreamland and The Reds having it all to do once again, Liverpool found themselves trailing 1-0 at the interval.
Early on in the second half as Liverpool pushed for the equaliser, Newcastle very nearly hit them with a sucker punch when Isak managed to find a way through, thanks to sublime skill and having great composure to finish past Alisson as The Reds looked in massive trouble, but the flag was up for offside as Liverpool seemed to be struggling.
Liverpool were trying every trick in the book to get back on terms, and they nearly found themselves in luck when Jordan Henderson lofted the ball into the box it found its way to Salah and Diaz between them they managed to set up the impressive Harvey Elliott, but Pope got down to make a smart save.
The equaliser finally was to arrive as the ever involved Elliott managed to find Salah on the run, he set up Roberto Firmino who finished off a excellent Liverpool attack, as the bottom left hand corner of the net rippled.
From that point on Liverpool pushed and unfortunately they did not seem to be getting anywhere, Diaz tried a shot from the edge of the box that Pope saved comfortably, and he was on the hunt for the winner once again shortly afterwards when Salah found him, but this time Trippier was in the way with a suburb block.
There was a hefty chunk of added time at the end of the game, and with the very last kick of the encounter from a James Milner corner, the ball bounced around like a pin ball machine, until Fabio Carvalho eventually intervened to lash the ball into the top corner ,and in turn queue scenes of un rivalled joy at Anfield as Liverpool nicked the three points on a dramatic night at Anfield.
Who stood out?
Harvey Elliott
The young man was simply class on what was an extremely challenging night for Liverpool, he managed to keep the attacks flowing as best he could whilst also being a constant bundle of energy which was exactly what Liverpool needed.
Fabio Carvalho
A super impact made by Liverpool’s new signing giving everything he had to produce a positive result for The Reds in a performance that finished with him thundering the ball into the roof of the net to earn his side a massive three points.
