Liverpool's Fight at St James' Park: A 2-2 Draw with Newcastle
When Liverpool last walked out at St James’ Park in August, Rio Ngumoha turned the place upside down with a 100th-minute winner and a celebration that felt like a statement of intent.
Same fixture, same late drama. Very different feeling.
This time it was Dominik Szoboszlai, ice-cold in the 99th minute from the spot, dragging a point out of a game that was slipping away. The roar from the away end was loud enough, but it carried relief rather than euphoria. A 2-2 draw, a point rescued, and a reminder that this Liverpool side remains a work in progress.
Iraola’s Liverpool show fight – but also frailty
Andoni Iraola walked away satisfied with the result, if not entirely with the performance. His team had trailed twice in a hostile, howling St James’ Park and refused to fold.
"It's probably not the result you want when you come in before the game but we definitely deserve this point and even more," he told BBC Radio 5 Live. "The team has never given up and we've recovered one point and probably the taste is better because we score in the last minute."
He was right about the taste. A defeat would have been Liverpool's first opening-weekend loss since 2012-13. Avoiding that kind of marker matters for a new manager. The comeback will do wonders for belief inside the dressing room.
But belief only goes so far. This display also underlined why Iraola keeps glancing towards the transfer market.
A top-four team in name, not yet in performance
"You're expecting Liverpool to get top four this season at least but they didn't look like a top four team today," said former Scotland winger Pat Nevin on 5 Live.
It was a sharp verdict, and a fair one. Liverpool were open, vulnerable on the break and short of ideas for long spells. Nevin pointed to the lack of creativity and the need to unlock Florian Wirtz and Alexander Isak.
"There are more players to come in, so you can't make a real decision on how their season is going to go," he added. "There's a definite lack of creativity and somehow they must get the best out of Florian Wirtz and Alexander Isak because you certainly didn't get the best out of them today."
All eyes had been on that pair. Isak, back at his old ground after a drawn-out move from Newcastle last September, was booed every time he touched the ball. He looked fired up, had 28 touches, and then squandered a glorious second-half chance he would routinely have buried in black and white.
Wirtz started brightly between the lines, snapping into pockets and trying to knit attacks together, but faded. He was withdrawn just after the hour, shortly after Newcastle had edged 2-1 ahead.
Both arrived for nine-figure fees last summer. Both know these are the nights when they are supposed to bend games to their will. Their connection, and their output, will have to grow quickly if Liverpool are to match the expectations around them.
Right now, this Liverpool side throws up more questions than answers.
The Gakpo dilemma
Front and centre among those questions is Cody Gakpo.
The Dutchman sits in the middle of Liverpool’s late-window calculations. If Iraola gets the two extra attackers he wants, Gakpo could be the one to make way. Liverpool have been linked with Paris St-Germain pair Bradley Barcola and Ibrahim Mbaye and have already seen two bids rejected for Brighton’s Yankuba Minteh.
Yet at St James’ Park, Gakpo was Liverpool’s best player.
He took his goal superbly, his movement sharp, his touch clean in tight spaces. While others drifted in and out, he carried a threat and a purpose that will have made Iraola think twice about sanctioning any departure.
The other attacking bright spot came late. Spanish forward Victor Munoz, on his Liverpool debut from the bench, changed the tone of the closing stages. He won the stoppage-time penalty that Szoboszlai buried, giving Iraola the spark he had been searching for all afternoon.
Ngumoha’s struggle and a thin bench
Munoz’s impact also threw Ngumoha’s afternoon into harsh relief. The teenager, who will turn 18 next week, had written his own fairytale here last August with that 100th-minute winner. This time, stationed on the right rather than his favoured left, he never got close to the same influence.
Iraola hooked him just after the hour, a decision that summed up how much he had laboured. The manager wants his wingers comfortable on both flanks. On this evidence, that experiment may be revisited once reinforcements arrive.
Because reinforcements are needed. Badly.
Once Munoz and Alexis Mac Allister came on in the 63rd minute, Iraola’s remaining outfield options were limited: Ronald Araujo, Wataru Endo, Kostas Tsimikas, and youngsters Trey Nyoni, James McConnell and Lewis Koumas, with Giorgi Mamardashvili the back-up goalkeeper.
For a club with Liverpool’s ambitions, that is a bench that screams “short of depth”.
Exposed on the break, light in midfield
At the back, the problems were just as stark. Milos Kerkez and Jeremie Frimpong both endured rough afternoons at full-back. Newcastle repeatedly found joy in the spaces behind them and punished Liverpool twice on the counter.
The absence of a specialist defensive midfielder loomed large. Once Joe Willock had fired Newcastle into a 2-1 lead, Iraola’s response was telling: Mac Allister dropped in just ahead of the back four to add control and protection that had been missing.
The numbers paint an ugly picture. Since the start of last season, Liverpool have now conceded more goals from fast breaks in all competitions than any other Premier League side – nine. This was not an outlier; it was a continuation.
For a coach whose game model leans on aggression and front-foot pressing, that fragility in transition is a problem that cannot be wished away.
Energy, resolve – and a long to-do list
For all that, Iraola did not sound downbeat.
"I've liked a lot of the things I've seen from the team," he said. "There's definitely things to improve like the goals but I've seen a lot of things I've liked from the team. I've liked the energy, especially the players coming from the bench. I think we finished the game quite strong physically."
Szoboszlai, the man who kept Liverpool’s unbeaten opening-day record intact, struck the same defiant note.
"We will never give up. I can guarantee you that," he told Sky Sports. "We have to fight every time - all day long during the 90 minutes. Everybody who came off the bench also made an impact as well. We need the whole squad and we need to be ready."
Desire is not the issue. Not on this evidence, not on Tyneside.
The question is whether this Liverpool squad, as currently built, has enough quality and enough numbers to turn that desire into a season that matches the club’s ambitions.
