YOU have to wonder whether Newcastle will ever beat Liverpool again. They certainly will not have a better chance.
Yet despite Trent Alexander-Arnold gifting Anthony Gordon a goal and Virgil van Dijk being sent off, Liverpool somehow turned what seemed a certain defeat into victory.
And that was all down to substitute Darwin Nunez. He grabbed the equaliser four minutes after being unleashed as a substitute and then grabbing a stunning 93rd minute winner.
That winless run for Newcastle against their chief tormentors is now 14 games, going back to 2015.
But you have to give enormous credit to Liverpool who showed real guts just when everything seemed to be going against them.
Initially, it seemed as though this game would be remembered for Liverpool’s dodgy defence.
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Alexander-Arnold struggled from the very start against the pace and direction of fellow scouser Gordon.
Just a minute after being cautioned by ref John Brooks for throwing the ball away, Alexander-Arnold elbowed Gordon off the ball and escaped with a lecture from the official.
And so that incident sparked the first exchange between Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp and Newcastle no 2 Jason Tindall.
Eddie Howe’s right-hand man has clearly been affected by the new Premier League rules which only allow one person in the technical area.
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When asked about the new rules after the draw at Chelsea, Klopp said: “I think it's only a problem for one team: Newcastle.”
So when Tindall came out of his dugout to appeal for a second yellow card for Alexander-Arnold, Klopp told him to sit down.
Yet Klopp could see that his right-back was struggling and shouted at him to think about what he was doing.
Yet Alexander-Arnold did the opposite. He somehow allowed a pass from Mo Salah to go under his foot and that gave Gordon a clear run on goal.
For a split second, Alexander-Arnold grabbed Gordon’s shirt but let go, knowing it would have been a sending off.
The former Evertonian, booed by Liverpool’s fans before the game, took just a couple of touches to get inside the area before sweeping the ball past Alisson.
Yet just when Klopp needed the team to keep focused, he was then let down by his most reliable player.
Van Dijk clattered into Isak as he surged towards goal and Brooks instantly pulled out a red card.
Van Dijk looked in a state of shock, insisting he won the ball which was true but he caught Isak first and it was a goalscoring opportunity.
Liverpool’s captain refused to leave the pitch until the VAR check, delivered an X-rated rant at Brooks and was still shaking his head as he walked past Klopp and then started arguing with the fourth official.
At that moment, Klopp tried to act as peacemaker with Tindall gesturing to Klopp to keep quiet by pushing his finger over his lips.
Klopp brought on defender Joe Gomez but that meant sacrificing Luiz Diaz, who had early managed the first decent chance of the game but was denied with a fine save by Nick Pope.
But that stop was nothing compared to the stunner delivered by Alisson who somehow pushed a terrific volley from Sandro Tonali against the bar.
Yet Liverpool, despite playing with aman less, remained a danger and Mo Salah had a goal-bound shot blocked by a terrific tackle from Sven Botman.
Miguel Almiron came close to sealing the win but his curling shot smacked against the post and how Newcastle were left to regret that.
Klopp gave a debut to young defender Jarell Quansah who wears the no 78 shirt and did not even make the line-up on the back of the Newcastle programme.
But he came on in the 77th minute with Nunez and it was the Uruguayan who delivered a killer finish.
He drilled a shot into the corner past Pope after Botman got himself in a tangle and failed to cut out Diogo Jota’s pass.
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Yet not content with a point, Liverpool went for the jugular. Newcastle lost possession, Salah played a perfect pass beyond Dan Burn and Nunez smashed a first-time shot into the net.
Aware of the rules for managers, Klopp remained on his best behaviour and only after shaking the hand of Eddie Howe did he go over towards Liverpool’s fans to celebrate wildly.
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