Lineup
Almiron, Shelvey and Schar came into the side after being dropped against [team 33] in the last game. Joelinton started in the front three with Wood on the bench.
After the first leg win against [team 3477] in the [league 2], Salah, Thiago, Trent, and Fabinho were dropped. Gomez, Milner came in after being out for some time. [player 1743], [player 1920] and [player 1078] were in the back four with Gomez as the right back.
First-Half
With [team 20] in excellent form, Howe’s side started the game aggressively. They were pressing from the front and were forcing [team 8] to go long. Liverpool were struggling to play their usual game due to the changes to starting eleven. Due to the absence of [player 1917], Thiago and Fabinho, they were finding it difficult to progress the ball efficiently.
Liverpool were lacking guile and movement in the midfield. Their usual holding midfielder, Fabinho, was on the bench, and [player 323] was the pivot. However, despite struggling to create, the away side scored in the 19th minute. Keita’s composure was displayed as he finished it with class.
With Henderson and [player 197] both being primarily defensive-minded, the pressure was on [player 32640] to be the creative force from the midfield. The former [team 277] man was having a great game. Not only the goal, but his influence in possession was key for Liverpool’s ball progression.
Liverpool had another great opportunity to double their lead as Newcastle’s free-kick turned into a counterattack for Liverpool. [player 241036] played a lovely pass to Mane, but the Senegalese’s finish was poor. Klopp, on the sidelines, was not happy with Mane’s execution.
Newcastle were struggling to get [player 819] and [player 459145] on the ball. There were unable to get the ball into Almiron and Saint-Maximin. One area of improvement for the second half was to get the ball to Bruno and use his ability to beat Liverpool’s gegenpressing. Out of possession, Newcastle were fine, but they needed more quality on the ball in the second half.
Second-Half
The start of the second half did see a slight increase in Newcastle’s intensity. Almiron and Saint-Maximin were receiving the ball in dangerous areas, but the end product was lacking. However, this little improvement was too less to cause Liverpool trouble.
Bruno and Shelvey were enjoying more possession in the middle of the park, helping [player 257663] and [player 32508] make runs in behind. The more involved Bruno will be in the game, the more threatening Newcastle’s attack will be.
Newcastle were awarded a free kick from a good range and favourable angle for Shelvey. However, his free-kick was marvellously blocked by Milner, who went down immediately due to the pain he suffered from it.
[player 32372] had to leave the pitch due to an injury. Howe replaced him with [player 2985] with half an hour to play.
Another big chance came to Liverpool, but it was another disappointing miss from [player 1389]. [player 1453] made a great run and delivered a powerful cross into the box, but finishing wasn’t good enough.
Liverpool were missing a few chances, and with the score still 0-1 in their favour, the tension was slightly increasing. They needed the second goal but were missing opportunities that they normally convert. Klopp was unhappy with the missed chances on the sideline as he knew that a one-goal lead is always dangerous.
Howe made an attacking change with [player 914] coming on for [player 1494447]. [player 33645] dropped into the midfield, where he played most of his games under the new boss. Saint-Maximin, playing down the middle, shifted to the left-wing, and Wood took his natural position.
With Klopp unhappy with the situation, [player 4125] was sent on in place of Mane, and [player 96099] came in for Henderson. Two rational changes with Salah adding the power to the frontline and Fabinho to gain more control in the midfield.
In the 84th minute, another Liverpool transition took place as Keita played Diaz through, who did everything right apart from the finishing touch. With just over five minutes to play, a few nerves started to kick in as Liverpool were unable to get that significant second goal. In the 90th minute, Salah displayed a world-class turn of pace to get beyond [player 1387] but once again, the end product was disappointing.
Despite all the missed chances and changes to the first eleven, Liverpool successfully won the three points and went 2 points above [team 9], who were yet to play against [team 71].
Fixture Details: [fixture 18139033]
What did the managers say?
[coach 523911] reflected on the defeat saying, “I don’t think we quite got going. I thought we made a bright start to the game but we’re slightly disappointed with our own performance.
“Individually I don’t think we hit our top levels, which meant collectively we didn’t quite hit the levels we have recently. We probably didn’t quite have that sustained pressure we were looking for. The second half was better without that big chance ever really coming.
“There were one or two bright sparks, but it’s slightly disappointing compared to our previous levels. I’ve seen progress from where we have been, but on the other side there’s a lot of work to do.”
[coach 455353] said, “I thought it was a top-class game in extremely difficult circumstances. Playing this kind of football.
“That’s why I’m really happy. You want to win football games and in the best case you deserve to win, and we did today 100% against a team in great form in a great atmosphere.”
He also talked about making five changes to the starting eleven, saying, “I don’t think about the next game, but I know you cannot ignore that. My job is to use the squad when they are available and that’s what we do. Today we thought it was the right thing today because we needed legs in this game.”
Author: Devashish Akolekar
