There will be two schools of thought on the Liverpool game against Newcastle United at St James’ Park late last night.
The Liverpool fans will refer to “champions know how to win ugly”, while those partial to the Black and White striped team will say their side was dominant and would have won had it kept all players on the park.
Of course, it is true that to be a champion, one must win even undeservedly. The unvarnished truth will lie somewhere in between.
When Ryan Gravenberch slotted home the only goal of the half, Newcastle were on top. In fact, the ball that went in past Nick Pope in goal in the 35th minute took a slight deflection off Fabian Schar and then kissed the inside of Pope’s left post; therefore, it was a lucky strike.
While the Liverpool fan will rejoice for the win, the play was disgusting.
The second kick of the half was a meaningless lump forward, and so was the last.
In between, there were 24 for Liverpool and 14 for Newcastle – 40 long kicks in all. Almost one a minute for the half.
So ubiquitous were these aimless kicks that the two most important events of the half resulted from long kicks, and both involved Dutchmen. Gravenberch’s goal was taken from 22 yards, and the foul that led to Anthony Gordon being sent for an early shower came from the Englishman trying to block a long clearance. Instead, he felled Virgil van Dijk, and referee Simon Hooper immediately showed a yellow card before being called to the VAR monitor for a review. After a few replays, he changed his mind and sent Gordon off for serious foul play.
Right from the off, Hugo Ekitike collected the ball in his own half and ran a few metres before offloading to Florian Wirtz. When the ball returned to him from a deflection from a Cody Gakpo strike, he found the bottom right corner of Pope’s net for the second Liverpool goal.
So early into the half was this goal that Liverpool manager Arne Slot missed it – he was still in the dressing room, maybe fixing the imaginary necktie he wasn’t wearing.
In the 57th minute, Hungarian Milos Kerkez showed his inexperience – some may call it weakness – when he turned his back on a floated ball to the far post to allow Bruno Guimaraes to put his head to it past his countryman Alisson Becker in goal for Liverpool to give the 10 men of Newcastle hope.
In fact, this was the second goal and the third event of the game to result from the long play that persisted throughout the encounter. Tino Livramento took a long throw-in parallel to Liverpool’s 18-yard line. A defending header returned the ball to him to chip in to the far post and Bruno’s head.
The sending off of Gordon, who had hitherto been Newcastle’s best player, shifted focus to his absent, lanky Swedish teammate Alexander Isak. Gordon started the game at Number 9, standing in for his wantaway striker, who is frozen out of the team as he pushes to join Liverpool. Gordon headed over three times between the 28th and 30th minutes. Twice from Anthony Elanga on the right and once from Harvey Barnes on the left. Had those fallen to the Swede, they all probably would have ended up in the back of the net. He was missed.
The Reds’ display gives the lie to the oft-repeated line that Slot is a brilliant manager. He is nothing of the sort. A new manager bounce is common in football, and Slot got it last season before his team rode the crest of a wave to the title. Now that the Dutchman is expected to implement his philosophy it, he and his team are missing in action so far.
What was weird about this game is that even Newcastle’s equalising goal also came from another ping up top. After a foul, Pope took the free kick about 10 yards into his half. He lumped the ball aimlessly over the Liverpool defence. Ibrahima Konate, instead of contesting for the ball in the air, opted to hold his opponent and allowed it to deflect off his back into the path of substitute Will Osula to slot past a stranded Alisson in the 88th minute.
For the remainder of the game, including the 11 minutes of additional time, it was all hands on deck for Liverpool, fending off the rampant Magpies, scenting blood. Yet it was they who nicked it at the end.
The 16-year-old Rio Ngumoha, having come on less than five minutes before, swept home Liverpool’s best play in the 90+10 minute. Yes, it took the Reds that long to stitch a good move together. The 3-2 win will paper over the cracks that this Liverpool team is not good enough to defend the title.
On Sunday, a disappointing Manchester United could only manage a 1-all draw against Fulham at Craven Cottage after Bruno Fernandes had skied a penalty.
Notable results:
Arsenal 5 – Leeds 0 on Saturday night
Crystal Palace 1 – Nottingham Forest 1 on Sunday afternoon
Everton 2 – Brighton and Hove Albion 0, also on Sunday
