Former Newcastle United goalkeeper Shay Given was ‘gutted’ not to see the Magpies come away with a result against Liverpool at Anfield on Wednesday.
United led at the break courtesy of a debut goal from club record signing Alexander Isak. The Swedish international freed himself of his marker to ghost into space and received a threaded pass from Sean Longstaff to crash an unstoppable finish into the top corner.
It was just rewards for an industrious Newcastle performance that arguably saw them carve out the best clear cut chances, despite Liverpool’s monopolisation of the ball. Newcastle marshalled Liverpool’s attacking threat with high efficiency, closing them down in numbers while maintaining an organised structure.
Their strong performance was all the more remarkable considering that the Magpies were without Bruno Guimaraes, Allan Saint-Maximin and Callum Wilson, while Sven Botman and Fabian Schar both started on the bench as they were rested.
Isak found the net for a second time after the break when he broke in behind Liverpool’s defence. He charged into the box, elegantly sidestepped Andy Robertson and Joe Gomez and slammed an emphatic finish beyond Allison.
However, a lengthy VAR review deemed the Newcastle forward to be in an offside position, despite the lack of clarity from the replays. This increased the tensions which would subsequently lead to a touchline melee in the dying stages.
“Yeah it was a bit spicy at the end, you wouldn’t encourage it but emotions are really high,” Given said on BT Sport. “To give away a goal so late it’s frustrating, one of the guys on the Newcastle bench but I don’t know one of the Liverpool guys was doing some sort of signals as well.
“You don’t like to see it, there’s a lot of emotion so they’re on cloud nine, the opposite to Newcastle. Jurgen looked really under pressure then, he didn’t look himself on the touchline, he was aggravated with everything, maybe it’s after the United game, 9-0 everyone thinks they’ll turn up tonight and win three or four-nil but that wasn’t the case.
“I feel for them tonight, the goals in the 98th minute, five added on - maybe it’s sour grapes on our behalf, but at the same time you feel gutted they didn’t come away with something.”
Roberto Firmino equalised just past the hour mark when he slotted Mohamed Salah’s low cross into the far bottom corner. Jurgen Klopp paced down the touchline for the remainder of the match, frustrated by what he described as Newcastle’s ‘timewasting’ as players went down in the latter stages with cramp due to the physical effects of a tireless performance.
Fabio Carvalho’s late winner generated contrasting emotions in both camps. Nick Pope slumped to the ground, the look of disappointment etched across his face, while Carvalho charged towards the corner flag, soon to be met by his equally jubilant teammates.
The camera panned to the dejected Newcastle players, all of them left deep in a state of astonishment. Meanwhile, things were getting very heated on the touchline.
Liverpool’s goalkeeping coach John Achterberg stuck two fingers up in the direct of the Newcastle bench. Objects were then thrown in the direction of the Liverpool bench, while Fabian Schar had to be restrained.
It was an unsavoury end to an electrifying game of football and Newcastle had every right to feel aggrieved at the fashion in which they lost.
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