Liverpool got back to winning ways on Saturday as they claimed a victory over Newcastle United.
The Reds beat Newcastle 2-0 in their Premier League clash at St James’ Park, thanks to goals from Darwin Nunez and Cody Gakpo. Liverpool moved up to eighth place in the table, and are now six points adrift of the top four with a game in hand.
Jurgen Klopp will be sweating over the fitness of Nunez, who was substituted due to a shoulder problem. Klopp confirmed that the Uruguayan will need to undergo further assessment in the coming days.
Plenty of national media outlets were in attendance to watch Liverpool’s win over Newcastle. Here is a round-up of what they had to say...
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Louise Taylor, via The Guardian
“As dress rehearsals go it could hardly have been worse for Newcastle. Eight days before their long awaited Carabao Cup final date with Manchester United Eddie Howe’s team not merely lost a Premier League game for only the second time this season but had Nick Pope sent off. The resultant suspension means the England goalkeeper will now miss out on a Wembley appearance.
“Newcastle remain fourth yet Liverpool, who beat them at Anfield in August, are now only six points and four places behind with a game in hand. Not that such encouraging statistics necessarily mean Jürgen Klopp’s side are totally renascent, let alone set to win the race for Champions League qualification.
“Perhaps significantly there were long periods when the visitors and prolonged possession appeared strangers and Liverpool’s pressing was more Euro-pop than heavy metal.”
Martin Hardy, via The Times
“Liverpool’s season is back alive. Newcastle United’s now teeters on the brink. How quickly football turns. Only six points separated the two teams by the time Anthony Taylor ended a dramatic evening in the northeast.
“Newcastle lost a home game for the first time this season, lost a Premier League match for the first time since August, also against Liverpool, and perhaps more significantly, lost their goalkeeper Nick Pope for next week’s Carabao Cup final.
“The evening was as catastrophic for Eddie Howe as it was energising for Jürgen Klopp.
“It was such a huge moment in the season of both Newcastle and Liverpool. Klopp’s team had to win to keep their hopes of a top-four finish alive. To that end his players withstood early Newcastle pressure and then came 12 minutes of devastating football that could define what happens next for both clubs.
“Liverpool scored twice, Nick Pope was sent off and it felt like the walls for Howe and his club were collapsing around them.”
Luke Edwards, via The Telegraph
“It is not just significant in terms of the race for a Champions League place. Liverpool are back within touching distance in their pursuit, but Newcastle will head into their first cup final for 24 years looking jaded and without one of their best players, goalkeeper Nick Pope.
“We will find out just how damaging that is at Wembley next weekend, but after 17 unbeaten league games, they will head into their Carabao Cup final with their third-choice goalkeeper and the bitter taste of defeat in their system.
“Newcastle are stumbling, key players appear to have lost form, just as Liverpool’s have regained their bounce.
“This must give Jurgen Klopp and his players a spring in their step. Newcastle had not lost at home since Liverpool were last here back in April 2022 but they were sliced apart by some precise, clinical attacking play.
“This was Liverpool’s trademark, this was their thing. They did it as well as any side in Europe. Both their goals came from delicious passes, the first from Trent Alexander-Arnold, the second from Mo Salah. Both had picked up little pockets of space and found the perfectly timed runs of Darwin Nunez and Cody Gakpo. It was Liverpool at their lethal best.
“As was the magnificent long ball out from goalkeeper Alisson Becker, spinning invitingly into the path of Salah that led to Pope’s sending off.
“A bad start for Newcastle turned into a disastrous one. With back up keeper Martin Dubravka cup tied from his loan spell at Manchester United, Eddie Howe will have to rely on third choice Loris Karius, who has not played a first-team game for more than two years.”
Craig Hope, via Mail Online
“Not since the tradition of stag-dos the night before a wedding have preparations for a big day gone quite so spectacularly wrong.
“Never mind the fact that Newcastle have lost for the first time at home this season, that Liverpool have closed the gap on them to six points with a game in hand and that their defending was as coherent as said groom after his bachelor party bender.
“Rather, it is the realisation that goalkeeper Nick Pope will be suspended for next Sunday's EFL Cup final with Manchester United that will feel worse than any hangover for Eddie Howe when he wakes on Sunday morning.
“Step forward - or, more likely, shuffle sheepishly from the shadows - Loris Karius. Should he start in the final, it will be almost two years to the day since his last competitive appearance for Union Berlin. Oh, and his last outing for an English club? That would be the Champions League final with Liverpool in 2018. It was there, in Kyiv, that he was at fault for two Real Madrid goals in a 3-1 defeat.
“Jurgen Klopp did not play him ever again and, while polite and complimentary here, he gave somewhat clipped answers when asked if his former player was ready to be thrown into another final.
“But if the German lost all faith in Karius, he is slowly regaining it in his current charges.
“They were devastating during a 12-minute period in the first half that brought two goals and forced Pope’s dismissal.
“Let us not declare them back to their best, but the sight of Klopp’s shiny whites through a smile rather than a snarl was confirmation of his happiness.”
Ian Doyle, via the Liverpool Echo
The talk going into this game had centred around how Newcastle, their pockets bulging with the riches of their new owners, were on the cusp of becoming a serious rival to Liverpool in future years.
Come the full-time whistle here, though, Jurgen Klopp and his delighted players were content in offering a reminder they can still challenge the moneybags Magpies this season.
Having spent much of 2023 plumbing new depths, the last week has seen Liverpool finally splutter into life, hopes of Champions League qualification that mere days ago seemed fanciful now a genuine aspiration.
While only another single step after Monday’s derby win over Everton, this was nonetheless a sizeable one. Certainly, Newcastle will be looking nervously over their shoulders, the gap to them in fourth and Liverpool down to six points with Klopp’s side having a game in hand.
The Reds, too, know from past experience that such gaps can be bridged. With 16 Premier League matches remaining, the means as well as the opportunity is there.
Sure, there was the helping hand – literally – from Nick Pope, the Newcastle goalkeeper dismissed midway through the first half amid a crackling St James’ Park atmosphere.
But by then Liverpool were already two goals ahead after a beautifully-worked quickfire double from Darwin Nunez and Cody Gakpo claimed an initiative a game home side simply couldn’t wrench from the visitors’ grasp.
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