{"id":176819,"date":"2025-08-26T10:53:12","date_gmt":"2025-08-26T10:53:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/176819\/"},"modified":"2025-08-26T10:53:12","modified_gmt":"2025-08-26T10:53:12","slug":"newcastle-lost-and-lost-and-lost-against-liverpool-it-just-didnt-look-like-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/176819\/","title":{"rendered":"Newcastle lost and lost and lost against Liverpool. It just didn\u2019t look like it"},"content":{"rendered":"

On a cacophonous night of booming noise and rampant symbolism, Newcastle United<\/a> lost.<\/p>\n

They lost the match, they lost Anthony Gordon to a three-match suspension, and they lost three big players to injury, but if there are shades of defeat, this headbanger of a bittersweet game was proof. It could not all be darkness, not when Eddie Howe\u2019s team played with such vigour and defiance, when they lost but played like winners.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow do you sum up an evening like this? So many things happened, it was complete chaos, and the fans made it an unbelievable atmosphere,\u201d Arne Slot, Liverpool\u2019s manager, conceded. \u201cWe had to stay so strong for so long. We were the lucky ones to get it over the line.\u201d<\/p>\n

As you always knew they would, Newcastle supporters rallied to the flag. As you always suspected, Howe\u2019s players found a way of facing down adversity, although this was extreme, even by their standards. At 2-0 and one man down \u2014 a lopsided reflection of a game they had bullied \u2014 they pushed and pushed and pushed themselves more. At 2-2, they were pressing for a winner. At 2-3 in the 100th minute, there could only be devastation<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Newcastle fans make their point before kick-off (Andy Buchanan\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

And to think that Alexander Isak chose to swerve it. It is tempting to say that the Sweden international did not know what he was missing, except that it was a conscious and deliberate act. As one striker sat it out, his stand-in was thrown out and there were Newcastle, down and out, conceding another just 19 seconds after the restart to Hugo Ekitike, one (of several) who got away this summer. With 10 men on the pitch, they were brutal and brilliant.<\/p>\n

And then along came Will Osula, the only forward left in the building, to somehow bend this extraordinary story, this ridiculous, wearing, summer is his direction with an 88th-minute equaliser. Until, until, until\u2026 Rio Ngumoha\u2019s goal, scored way past the 16-year-old\u2019s bedtime, was a volume-vacuum.<\/p>\n

Drawing conclusions from the bedlam feels like a lifetime project. Picking up the pieces will be Sisyphean. It leaves Newcastle with one point from their opening two league games, which feels like a meagre reward for the attitude and quality they have shown against first Aston Villa and then Liverpool when the whole world has been watching on, looking for signs of fracture.<\/p>\n

It leaves them unbowed but imperfectly formed and partially broken, with work to do while the transfer window remains open. Perhaps more so, now. Already needing reinforcements in attack, whether or not Isak stays, Gordon will miss the next three games. Surely, in those circumstances, the prospect of selling Isak to Liverpool recedes even further? Surely it becomes even less palatable?<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, of course,\u201d Howe said. \u201cIf you do the maths, we\u2019re running out of options in that position.\u201d<\/p>\n

Once again, the head coach was battered with questions about Isak. The rare presence of Yasir Al-Rumayyan, the club\u2019s chairman, on Tyneside for the first time since February felt significant in such heightened circumstances; he and Jamie Reuben, the minority owner, stood in front of the dugouts at the end, applauding and shaking hands with exhausted players. They have the power to get things done. They have the power to ensure Isak remains.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Yasir Al-Rumayyan was at St James\u2019 Park (Andy Buchanan\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s the owner, the most important person in terms of directing which decisions we make,\u201d Howe said of Al-Rumayyan.<\/p>\n

Options are becoming scarce elsewhere, too. Fabian Schar left the pitch with a concussion, Sandro Tonali with a damaged shoulder, and Joelinton with a groin injury.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re genuine injuries,\u201d Howe said<\/a>. \u201cThat would be a huge blow to us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Amid all of that, Newcastle found a way to function. For large stretches of the match, they were exceptional, setting the tone and then responding to misfortune, from Ryan Gravenberch\u2019s momentum-confounding opener, to Gordon\u2019s lunge on Virgil van Dijk and Ekitike\u2019s cruel timing. The punches came and they rolled with them.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve given two great performances and we\u2019ve shown our togetherness and unity,\u201d Howe said. \u201cWe\u2019ve shown our fighting spirit. We\u2019ve shown we have put the distractions around us away \u2014 you\u2019d just like a bigger return to show the rest of the world. Sometimes football doesn\u2019t give you that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Slot was gushing in his praise of Newcastle. Or at least in how difficult it is to play against Howe\u2019s relentlessly physical and athletic side.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is impossible for us to control this game,\u201d Slot said. \u201cThey are such a good team, with their playing style and how hard they made it for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

What most impressed Slot and most unsettled his side was how direct Newcastle were. Their passing accuracy was only 68 per cent, but they attempted 53 \u2018long balls\u2019, 15 of which found their intended target.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Bruno Guimaraes was colossal for Newcastle (Stu Forster\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Howe identified Newcastle\u2019s size advantage and attempted to exploit it at every opportunity, especially once they had one player fewer. There were diagonals played forward, set pieces directed into the area, and they unveiled a new weapon in their armoury. Tino Livramento\u2019s long throws had not been seen previously, but freshly appointed set-piece coach Martin Mark is looking to eke more out of every dead-ball situation.<\/p>\n

Beyond that aggression and aerial threat, Newcastle also displayed far less tangible qualities. Bruno Guimaraes, the captain, showed real desire to get to Livramento\u2019s cross ahead of Milos Kerkez and head in Newcastle\u2019s first, while Osula\u2019s selflessness and willingness to continue his run into the area allowed him to capitalise on a ricochet and equalise.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you go down to 10 men, it\u2019s just all about your mentality, your togetherness as a team,\u201d Livramento said. \u201cWe have that in abundance. We were by far the better team and you saw what we can do.\u201d<\/p>\n

What Newcastle did was lose, but not in the way that losers do. Howe summed it up. \u201cThis isn\u2019t going to be a simple season for us and we\u2019re already being challenged in ways we maybe didn\u2019t expect,\u201d he said. \u201cWe have to rise to those challenges.\u201d<\/p>\n

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