Liverpool produced a strong second half at Newcastle United to twice come from behind and see Mohamed Salah inspire them to what looked like another three points - only for a late Fabian Schar equaliser to deny them victory.
An error-strewn first half saw the Premier League leaders fortunate to only be one down after Alexander Isak’s ferocious hit, but the Reds’ own in-form attacker scored twice and teed up another to complete what looked a perfect turnaround and have Liverpool 3-2 up - Anthony Gordon also netting in between Curtis Jones and Salah’s first.
But Caoimhin Kelleher, so impressive recently in goal for the Reds, made an error of his own and allowed Schar to score late on for a three-all draw and a share of the points.
That understandably led to manager Arne Slot acknowledging the positives of the performance while also bemoaning a slow start for his team.
“We were twice one goal down; one minute before the end we’re up, so mixed feelings,” he said on Amazon Prime Video at full time. “First half we were not good enough for the quality of Newcastle so maybe in the end 3-3 is what the game deserves.
“They were aggressive and forced too many mistakes from us. We played a few times through them but that second half was so much better, more dominance, more control and created good opportunities.
“We had more intensity, we were much, much better with the ball.”
After a week in which Liverpool beat both Real Madrid and Manchester City, a midweek trip to the north east in the pouring rain was no easy next task - and with a Merseyside derby ahead at the weekend, Slot also pointed out the importance of recovery time, as well as his star forward Salah.
“We had two very tough games and one day less to recover than the opopnent. If youre a goal down and after the week we had, in an away game, that were’re able to change the game completely in the second half then it’s a really positive thing to take,” he said.
“Every time we need [Salah] he scores an important goal. We hope and expect he can continue this for a long time. After the assist for 1-1, at that moment he was outstanding. Hit the bar, set up [Alexis] Mac Allister for a chance; apart from the goals he did even more special things.”
