In a bid to freshen things up with games coming thick and fast Jurgen Klopp made six changes to his starting line-up from the decisive victory over Southampton in the Capital One Cup.
The brilliant, but brittle Daniel Sturridge returned to the bench for Christian Bentenke. After his strong performance against Southampton Joe Allen was given another chance to bed down a place in the absence of the suspended Emre Can, similarly Jordon Ibe came in place of the still injured Coutinho.
Strangely, after his co-starring role in grabbing a hat-trick Divock Origi was relegated to the subs bench.
It was a chance to move into contention for a Champions League place.
That will have to wait for another day because we failed ingloriously.
Continuous long balls pumped up to Bentenke gave Newcastle the confidence to come into the game gradually even though Liverpool enjoyed masses of possession. After the explosive display in midweek Liverpool were lithless and the strategy aimless lacking the creativity of Lallana, Sturridge and Can which had fairly lit up St Mary’s.
Newcastle for the their part defended manfully not allowing Liverpool to the threaten although Bentenke will be disappointed not to have scored. The big man from blazed over from two yards lacking the finesse to dink the ball over the fast approaching Elliott.
All in all the first half was a disjointed affair with neither looking likely to break the deadlock, as Newcastle battled first and foremost to stay in the contest.
Disappointingly Liverpool continued in the second-half as we had in the first while Newcastle increasingly becoming more of a force as the game went on and with Liverpool looking increasingly insipid Klopp looked to change the dynamic just after the hour replacing Benteke with Sturridge and the disappointing Firmino for Lallana.
With the increasing momentum and Newcastle beginning to overrun the Liverpool midfield it was no surprise to see them break the deadlock.
Wijnaldum having threatened minutes earlier moved into the area and Skrtel and Lovren will be disappointed not to have snuffed out the initial danger, before allowing the Dutch international to get in a shot which was deflected off Martin Skrtel attempted to block the shot and looping over Mignolet into the net.
Liverpool looked to get back in the game immediately and appearing more lucid should have equalised. Adam Lallana found Sturridge with a glorious through ball which the England striker pulled horribly wide of the far post with a right-footed shot.
Inexplicably, Moreno saw his wonderful cushioned volley which looped in over Elliott, chalked off by the referees assistant for offside with the Spaniard at least a yard or two on side.
It was not to be our day and Wijnaldum made sure deep into injury time latching on to Sissoko’s through ball to send St James’s Park into delirium.
Man of the match: Jordon Ibe – looked threatening for most of the afternoon, but his final ball lacked quality and accuracy.
Critical eye: A disappointing result with Liverpool on the cusp of challenging for a top four place and coming on the back of a Man City loss with both Spurs and Man United both drawing.
The long ball’s up to Benteke allowed Newcastle to sweep up second phase ball with Firmino and Milner unable to get up in support.
Controlling possession throughout the first half with crisp passing was negated by the slowness of build-up and the lack of quality in the final third. The recent victories were built on pressing high-up the pitch which we barely managed to do here and we lacked the drive to keep this up to any degree.
After bagging a hat-trick against Southampton and with his confidence surely at fever pitch it was a strange decision to leave the Origi on the bench, especially as it was he in tandem with Lallana and Firmino who led in pressing Southampton so successfully.
Joe Allen in the absence of Emre Can failed in his own audition to impose himself in midfield and his inability to provide creativity and control the tempo of the game again raises questions as to whether he can do so without the physical presence of Can alongside him.
Teams:
Newcastle: 21 Rob Elliot, 22 Janmaat, 2 Coloccini, 18 Mbemba, 3 Dummett, 7 Sissoko, 4 Colback (Gouffran – 77 mins), 8 Anita, 5 Wijnaldum, 10 de Jong (Pérez – 68 mins), 9 Cissé (Thauvin – 82 mins)
Subs: 11 Gouffran, 17 Pérez, 20 Thauvin, 26 Darlow, 42 Sterry, 43 Mbabu, 45 Mitrovic
Liverpool: 22 Mignolet, 2 Clyne, 37 Skrtel, 6 Lovren, 18 Moreno, 21 Lucas, 24 Allen, 33 Ibe (Origi – 75 mins), 11 Firmino (Sturridge – 62 mins), 7 Milner, 9 Benteke (Lallana – 62 mins)
Subs: 4 K Touré, 14 Henderson, 15 Sturridge, 20 Lallana, 27 Origi, 34 Bogdan, 56 Randall
Referee: Andre Marriner
Attendance: 51,273
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