Case Study: Newcastle United 1-2 Liverpool 27/8/2023

Having only won one and drawn one in fourteen games against Jürgen Klopp, history wasn’t exactly on Eddie Howe’s side.

Howe sent out the same side that lost to Manchester City the previous weekend, lining up in a 4-3-3 shape.

Klopp made two changes to the team that beat Bournemouth. Wataru Endo made his full debut, with Cody Gakpo returning to the frontline as Diogo Jota dropped to the bench, while Joël Matip replaced the injured Ibrahima Konaté at centre-back. Liverpool set up in their usual 4-3-3 formation.

The match started slowly; the ball bouncing back and forth in midfield with few chances.

Liverpool attempted to press Newcastle, with Alexis Mac Allister pushing forward from midfield next to Gakpo to pressure the Newcastle centre-backs. This would leave just two men to cover the midfield for Liverpool though, seeing them outnumbered. For the most part, Newcastle failed to take advantage of this though, preferring to go long, often out to the flanks.

Regular viewers of Liverpool could be forgiven for thinking they were watching a repeat of the Bournemouth game, as they conceded an early goal thanks to a sloppy touch by Trent Alexander-Arnold and then went a man down after Virgil van Dijk was harshly sent off.

The situation for Liverpool was worse this time out though. Whereas against Bournemouth they already had the lead when they went down to ten, meaning all they really had to do was sit back defensively and hold onto possession to see out the game, here they needed to chase the game.

Klopp responded to the sending off by once again switching to a 4-4-1, substituting Luis Diaz for Joe Gomez. Dominik Szoboszlai and Gakpo were moved out to the flanks, leaving Mohamed Salah as the lone striker.

Liverpool understandably struggled to get into the game. They sat back in their 4-4-1, pressing on an individual basis. They were at least able to block up the centre, funnelling Newcastle wide, but with the lead the home side were content to simply hold onto the ball and make Liverpool chase them. The Reds didn’t want to chase Newcastle as, a man down, this would open them up, however they needed to if they were going to get the ball in order to win the game.

When Newcastle did pass into attack rather than simply holding onto the ball, they found a lot of success down the left, where Anthony Gordon repeatedly beat Alexander-Arnold. The full-back continually positioned himself to defend down the outside, leaving space inside for the winger to cut into.

With a little over twenty minutes to go, Liverpool switched Mac Allister and Szoboslzai around in midfield, having the Hungarian push forward next to the striker to press the defenders. Much more energetic than the Argentinian, Szoboszlai was more effective in his pressure, managing to corner and panic the defenders, which in turn encouraged his teammates to push up in support and press as a unit. Having Szoboszlai press forward like this was obviously risky as it left just one man in midfield, but it was necessary if Liverpool were to reclaim the ball, and they needed the ball if they were to get anything form the game.

By this point Klopp had already removed Gakpo and Endo, replacing them with Harvey Elliott and Jota on the flanks. With 13 minutes to go, he replaced Mac Allister with Darwin Nuñez, seeing Elliott tuck into the midfield as Salah moved wide again, and Matip with Jarell Quansah, seeing Alexander-Arnold move to centre-back.

Minutes later Alexander-Arnold picked out Salah in attack. Newcastle’s attackers were drawn forward to press while Joelinton had been drawn inside to mark Elliott, leaving a gap for Alexander-Arnold to slice through the midfield. Salah offloaded it with one touch to Jota in between the lines, and the Portuguese attempted to play in Nuñez. Sven Botman blocked the pass, but the ball deflected off of his back, onto his heel and then through to Nuñez, who took a touch and fired the ball low under Nick Pope.

Now in need of a goal again, Newcastle began to push players forward into attack, but this caught them out in injury time. Alisson Becker kicked the ball long, and although Bruno Guimarães retrieved the second ball, he punted the ball straight at Elliott in midfield. The loose ball fell to Salah and, with all the Newcastle midfielders caught ahead of the ball, he had the time to get his head up and slip a through ball in behind for Nuñez. The Uruguayan let the ball run across him and finished past Pope with his first touch.

Howe had an easy path to victory and still managed to come away empty-handed against Klopp.

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