Former England and Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand has praised Newcastle United for a ‘brave’ performance in their 2-1 defeat against Liverpool at Anfield on Wednesday.
Newcastle haven’t beaten Liverpool at Anfield in the Premier League in 28 years (L22 D5) but drew first blood when Alexander Isak capped his debut with the opener.
Isak peeled away from his marker and Sean Longstaff threaded the ball through a gap in the Liverpool defence for the Swedish international to fire emphatically into the top corner.
He scored a second after the break, only to controversially be denied by the offside flag, before Liverpool came from behind in dramatic fashion to end the Magpies’ unbeaten start to the season. Nevertheless, Ferdinand sensed that there was something very ‘different’ about Newcastle’s performance at Anfield compared to previous visits.
“It’s a different Newcastle, when would you ever see Newcastle come to Anfield and go at them? Especially, Liverpool in the last few years, they came here, on the front foot, brave, pushing them,” Ferdinand said on BT Sport.
“The way they pressed them, forced a mistake, you have to give them huge credit. They were top of balls retrieved in the opposition third, there’s a lot of work going in there, they haven’t got the result but they’re on the right path.”
Roberto Firmino levelled the score just past the hour mark when he slotted Mohamed Salah’s low cross into the far bottom corner.
Despite fighting to the death, Fabio Carvalho dealt a cruel late blow when he crashed his volley in off the woodwork in the eighth minute of stoppage time.
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