Key events
HALF TIME: Newcastle United 0-1 Liverpool
It’s unravelled quickly for Newcastle. The teams depart to frustrated boos, but Anthony Gordon has dumped his team-mates – who had been much the better side for the majority of the half – in a spot of bother.
45 min +4: Gordon was all over Van Dijk’s achilles there, and could have buckled his standing leg too. The referee had no choice. It was a miserable, hot-headed lunge.
RED CARD: Gordon (Newcastle United)
45 min +3: It’s red. It was a terrible challenge. Eddie Howe shakes his head sadly as his man disappears down the tunnel. Van Dijk is OK to continue.
45 min +2: Gordon is coming in super-hard, and super-late. The referee is about to announce a review.
45 min: Gordon comes through the back of Van Dijk’s standing leg as the Liverpool defender attempts a clearance. It’s a very poor challenge. Yellow card. Kerkez goes nose to nose with Gordon, and Guimaraes separates the pair. But VAR asks the referee to have a second look. Gordon could be in trouble here.
44 min: Salah is caught from behind by Burn. It’s a poor lunge. Yellow card.
42 min: Liverpool stream forward, Gakpo cutting in from the left and sending a diagonal towards Salah on the right-hand corner of the Toon box. Salah curls an inviting low ball through the area. Jones, alone ten yards out, can’t connect, and it’s too far in front of Ekitike, rushing in from the other side.
41 min: Wirtz hasn’t got into the game at all. He’s got a bit of space down the left, but not as much time as he thinks, and Trippier comes across to barge him off the ball. Some Premier League acclimatisation may be required here.
39 min: … so having said that, the hosts pick up the speed again, Elanga making good space down the right and crossing long, hopefully for Gordon. Szoboszlai gets in ahead of his man and flashes a header wide left. A corner, from which nothing comes.
38 min: Liverpool suddenly look a little more assured, Newcastle subdued.
37 min: That’s stunned the denizens of St James’ Park, who can’t believe what they’ve just seen. Newcastle have been utterly dominant, but Gordon missed the two chances they made, and Liverpool have hit them with a classic sucker-punch.
GOAL! Newcastle United 0-1 Liverpool (Gravenberch 35)
Well, well, well, wouldn’t you know it? Liverpool take it down a notch with some patient possession. Then Gakpo, on the left, feeds Gravenberch, who takes another step infield. Gravenberch takes a touch to make space to shoot, then rifles a low drive through Guimaraes’ legs, off the base of the left-hand post and in. Pope rooted to the spot! What a finish! What a smash and grab!
33 min: Ekitike clanks a simple pass out for a throw. You can hear the pantomime jeering from where you are, can’t you? “Newcastle are fantastic,” writes Tanay Padhi. “Snappy in midfield, quick in transition, quality balls into the box. I feel like they’re almost a crack outfit, just can’t quite put my finger on what the missing ingredient here is.”
32 min: Tonali blazes past Konate down the middle of the park. That was absurdly easy. He doesn’t quite have the pace to beat Van Dijk as well, so looks for Gordon in the middle. Alisson, wise to the grift, races off his line to smother. Liverpool are clinging on here. They’re being given the proper runaround.
31 min: Van Dijk and Konate exchange a few low-voltage passes at the back, again trying to take some sting out of proceedings. There’s no ball out, though, and it soon ends up in Pope’s hands.
29 min: Barnes feeds Elanga down the right. Elanga gets the better of Kerkez and crosses low. Gordon, sliding in, can’t connect properly, and Alisson claims. Newcastle quickly come again, Elanga again crossing from the right. Gordon flashing a poor header wide left. Again, a certain striker, etc., and so on.
28 min: Barnes whips a cross in from the left. Gordon rises highest in the middle but sends his header over the bar from six yards. You can be pretty sure that a certain striker would have buried that.
27 min: Joelinton attempts a bicycle kick with the ball coming in from the Newcastle right. He doesn’t connect.
25 min: Gordon spins Konate, who yanks him back with a fistful of shirt. Another Liverpool player goes into the book. The champions are getting a bit of a chasing in midfield, though Newcastle haven’t created a proper chance yet.
24 min: Trippier with another free kick in the centre circle. He hits it long and straight, all the way through to Alisson. The whistle goes for a Burn shove, anyway. Newcastle have enjoyed 80 percent possession during the last five minutes.
22 min: Gordon passes wide right to Trippier, who miscues his cross with options in the middle. The ball bobbles harmlessly through to Alisson.
21 min: Newcastle are winning the midfield battles, though. Joelinton sends Barnes down the inside-left channel. Barnes shuttles on to Livramento, who whistles a low cross into the six-yard box. Alisson gathers. The hosts well on top.
19 min: Ekitike comes off second best in an aerial challenge in midfield with Schar. A garden-variety free kick. Van Dijk isn’t happy, telling the referee how he sees it. “Both sides, both sides,” he mouths, with some feeling. His mood doesn’t improve a few seconds later when Salah and Livramento come together for another Newcastle free kick. Nothing comes of either set piece, which is probably just as well.
17 min: Tonali sends a weird, flat, low free kick through the Liverpool box. Behind just about everyone in black and white. That’s a dreadful waste.
16 min: Elanga races after a pass down the right and cuts back from the byline. Just behind Joelinton. Gordon recycles possession on the left flank and draws a clumsy foul from Szoboszlai, just to the side of the box. A free kick in a very dangerous position.
14 min: Liverpool make a big show of a pre-corner huddle, but the theatre doesn’t affect Newcastle’s concentration. The hosts clear Wirtz’s poor delivery with ease.
13 min: Schar’s careless pass out from the back is intercepted by Ekitike, who tees up Wirtz on the left-hand corner of the box. Wirtz curls for the right-hand side of the net. Pope paws the ball around the post. Corner.
12 min: Ekitike scampers after a pass down the left and wins a throw. Plenty of loud booing as he takes his touch. Nothing comes of the throw, and play restarts, Guimaraes trying to release Elanga down the middle. He overhits, allowing Alisson to race out of his box and blooter clear. A better-weighted ball and Newcastle were in.
11 min: Alisson takes his sweet time over a goal kick, much to the annoyance of the home fans. Liverpool trying to draw some sting out of this game. Good luck with that.
9 min: … though Van Dijk isn’t slow in making the point that Trippier and Joelinton have both got away with one. However, two wrongs, etc. Gravenberch’s challenge was clumsy bordering on poor.
8 min: Gravenberch slides in late on Guimaraes and that’s the first yellow card of the evening. He can have no complaints, scissoring the Newcastle man’s standing leg.
7 min: Alisson hits long down the left for Ekitike, who is wrestled from behind by Trippier. A free kick, and a chance for Wirtz to curl one into the Toon mixer … but he plays it short for Kerkez, whose long pass forward is headed clear by Burn.
5 min: Wirtz flicks a ball down the left wing and is pinged to the floor by Trippier. Just a free kick, though it’s another challenge that, at another stage in the match, perhaps between two other opponents, in different circumstances, a card may have been shown.
4 min: It’s a high-octane start, as pretty much everyone would have predicted. Newcastle getting their press going early doors. Their passing game, not so much.
2 min: … Kerkez heads clear, and then Joelinton clips a high boot into Gakpo’s face. Later in the game, and that’d have been a booking for sure. The referee playing it cool for now.
44 secs: Elanga chases down the right and wins the first corner of the game. From which …
A huge St James’ Park roar as the two teams huddle, then Liverpool get the ball rolling. Plenty of boos as they kick off. Then another roar as Burn heads clear. What an atmosphere!
The teams are out! Newcastle in black and white, Liverpool in red. Fair to say there’s quite the atmosphere at St James’ Park, a heady mix of love and hostility. We won’t insult your intelligence by detailing what’s being directed at whom. Liverpool got a volley of boos earlier while getting off the team bus, and when the teams were announced over the tannoy, Hugo Ekitike, a one-time transfer target for Newcastle, got some special treatment. Speaking of which, a banner displayed in the Gallowgate End may also be directed at one particular individual. “NOTHING IS ACHIEVED ALONE.” But who? No prizes. Off in a couple of minutes!
It’s true that this article is more than 11 years old … but retro enthusiasts are surely the last people on earth who’ll care about us regurgitating old stuff. Enjoy the memories.
… and here’s a wee bonus courtesy of The Blizzard.
It’s Arne Slot’s turn to talk to Sky Sports, and despite some heroic filibustering to avoid the question†, he eventually succumbs and confirms that Dominik Szoboszlai will deputise at right-back for Liverpool tonight. “Eh … yes it is … yes … yep … who else should it be?! … yeah, Curtis Jones could have played there as well, he played there once … against Everton by the way, and he did really well … two right full-backs injured … Joe Gomez not ready to start yet … can have an impact for 15-20 minutes again … we think [Szoboszlai] is able to play there but it all depends on the team performance as to whether it’s a good choice.”
†: 1m 01s of free-jazz waffle about last season’s 3-3 and the supposedly threadbare composition of Liverpool’s bench this evening, an opinion put forward by Sky pundit Jamie Carragher, onto whom Slot sprinkles some light banter-grade shade
More from Eddie Howe’s chat with Sky. “It’s not where we want to be at this moment in time … entering the new season without a recognised centre-forward … what I would say is that Anthony Gordon has played the position really well for us historically … and last week, though he didn’t score … he led the line really well … I expect him to do the same today … he enjoys the position … he wants to play there … counter-attacking is not fundamentally the most important thing in our performance … defensively our off-the-ball structure has to be right … we have to minimise their threats … but we are at home and we believe with the creative players we have on the pitch … we can cause any team problems.”
Sky Sports get Eddie Howe on the mic, and immediately ask if there are any updates on the Alexander Isak saga. “No, absolutely nothing to update you with, unfortunately,” he straight-bats.
What about Newcastle’s reported £50m bid for Wolves striker Jørgen Strand Larsen? “I’m not going down well here, am I, because I’ve got nothing to tell you on that! I’ve been preparing the game and I’ve had no updates on anything … the focus for me is purely on this game as I think you’ll understand.”
Toon unchanged; Reds welcome back Gravenberch
Newcastle did everything but score in their opening Premier League match at Villa Park. No big surprise, then, that they name the same starting XI as they did for that goalless draw last Saturday. Jacob Ramsey, the new arrival from Villa, is named as a sub.
Liverpool make two changes in the wake of their emotional 4-2 victory over Bournemouth two Fridays ago. Curtis Jones and Ryan Gravenberch come into the midfield; Jeremie Frimpong is injured, while Alexis Mac Allister is missing due to personal reasons. Frimpong’s place at right back will be taken by … either Jones or Dominik Szoboszlai. Let’s see.
The teams
Newcastle United: Pope, Trippier, Schar, Burn, Livramento, Guimaraes, Tonali, Joelinton, Elanga, Gordon, Barnes.
Subs: Ramsdale, Hall, Botman, Thiaw, Osula, Jacob Murphy, Willock, Ramsey, Miley.
Liverpool: Alisson, Jones, Konate, van Dijk, Kerkez, Szoboszlai, Gravenberch, Salah, Wirtz, Gakpo, Ekitike.
Subs: Mamardashvili, Gomez, Endo, Bradley, Chiesa, Leoni, Elliott, Robertson, Ngumoha.
Referee: Simon Hooper (Wiltshire).
Preamble
Things tend to happen when these two meet. Newcastle United’s first domestic trophy in 70 years, to pluck one random example out of thin air …
… or the 3-3 thriller in this fixture last season …
… or the most famous Premier League match of them all, rendered here in retro style …
… and all of this is before considering the summer transfer saga which continues to rumble away. Once more with feeling, then. Kick-off is at 8pm UK time. It’s on!
