Scintillating Nunez helps 10-men Liverpool send St James’ Park into disbelief
Newcastle were left to rue their missed opportunities as 2 late goals from Darwin Nunez meant Liverpool won 2–1.
Cometh the hour, cometh the man. Liverpool in need of something special on a tough away day, enter into the fray, their new number 9 — Darwin Nunez. About 20 minutes later, the Uruguayan had netted twice securing a famous win for his side.
Once Sven Botman’s error allowed Nunez to race in behind and get a sight of Pope’s goal, he had only one thing in his mind: make sure that he puts the chance away, which he certainly did with his razor sharp finish. The angle was tight, pressure of a heavy price tag still on his shoulders, face to face with one of the finest shot stoppers in the Premier league in Nick Pope but this time, Nunez wasn’t letting anything stop him from scoring. He was a man on a mission, determined to showcase his talent to all the doubters.
Few minutes later, an exhausted Bruno Guimaraes gave the ball away to Harvey Elliot, who immediately passed to Mo Salah and the Egyptian released Nunez in behind the Magpies’ backline with a perfect through ball. Nunez once more finished clinically giving the goalkeeper no chance, triggering wild celebrations in the away end.
For Newcastle, this was nothing less than a heart break. They had played extremely well until the very end of the game.
Anthony Gordon was immense for the hosts, especially in the 1st half; causing a lot of problems for Liverpool down their right hand side. First, he forced the mistake from Alexander-Arnold for the goal and then it was his pass to Isak that led to Virgil van Dijk taking the Swede down which resulted in a red card for the Liverpool skipper. Gordon had the most progressive carries (12) and dribbles (six) of any Newcastle starter, with Almiron (six) the only player to register more than his four shots.
Ultimately, Newcastle will rue their missed opportunities: Gordon fired wide multiple times after cutting in from the left and Almiron’s shot came back after striking the woodwork, which was the closest they came to extending their lead. The Magpies struggled to pick the right pass in the final third.
Liverpool held on, through some individual brilliance from Alisson — who made an absolutely brilliant stop to deny Almiron from scoring on the volley in the 1st half — and a combination of defensive nous and a bit of luck, knowing that at 1–0, they were always in the game.
Eddie Howe admitted in his pre-match conference that while he thought that Trent Alexander-Arnold should have been sent off for a second bookable office inside the first 6 minutes, his counter part, Jurgen Klopp’s substitutions were smarter compared to his picks. Sandro Tonali going off had a big impact as Newcastle lost control of the midfield which led to opportunities on the counter for their visitors; Gordon going off greatly diminished the attacking threat of the hosts. Perhaps, Howe is right though, “Sometimes when you make those changes, it doesn’t go as you foresee, but the same could have happened leaving the same players on. That’s the game.”
This is indeed, football where stranger things have happened. Newcastle and Eddie Howe have learnt an important lesson — the hard way.
