Newcastle United 2-3 Liverpool: 6 Men who won the game for Liverpool
Liverpool travelled to Saint James' Park on Saturday evening to face a buoyant Newcastle side managed by a former Liverpool Manager. The Magpies had responded well to Rafa Benitez's tactics and had managed to steer clear of the relegation battle. There wasn't much for them to fight for apart from pride and this made them extremely dangerous.
Jurgen Klopp's side, on the other hand, had to bounce back quickly from a demoralizing midweek defeat at the hands of Lionel Messi's Barcelona. Liverpool needed to quickly shift their attention to the Premier League title chase and there was no room for errors now. The German Manager knew this very well and named his team accordingly.
He started with Alisson at goal, with Robertson, van Dijk, Lovren and Alexander-Arnold making up the back four. In the midfield, he opted for Wijnaldum and Henderson on either side of Fabinho. There was an interesting change in the front three as Sturridge partnered Mane and Salah in the attack.
Liverpool started the game very well and even took the lead in the 13th minute through van Dijk. But Newcastle rallied for the equalizer and scored through Atsu in the 20th minute. The away side took the lead again in the 28th minute, through Mohamed Salah, but Newcastle were back in the game in the 54th minute, through a Rondon equalizer. However, Origi scored the winner in the 86th minute and helped Liverpool go to the top of the table with one game left in the season.
Jurgen Klopp should be delighted with the spirit shown by his team, but he will be thanking these 6 men who were brilliant on the night and helped Liverpool win the game.
#6 Trent Alexander-Arnold
It was from the English Right Back’s corner that Liverpool took the lead in the 13th minute, but Alexander-Arnold had a mixed start to the game. The right-back was often caught out of position when Newcastle piled bodies forward. The Englishman was also guilty of being out of position for the Newcastle attack that led to the goal. He did initially try to redeem himself by clearing Rondon’s initial shot off the line, but Atsu scored all the same. Replays suggested that Alexander-Arnold might have used his hand, so he was lucky that the referee played the advantage, which helped him escape a direct red card.
Alexander-Arnold did go on to finally redeem himself, by sending in the brilliant cross that Salah scored from, thus helping Liverpool take the lead for the second time in the game. Even though he was not his usual self at the back, the Englishman helped Liverpool win the game by setting up two goals.