Neil Atkinson’s post-match review for The Anfield Wrap after Newcastle United 2 Liverpool 2 in the 2026-2027 Premier League at St. James’ Park…
I am stressed. You are stressed. Imagine how the manager feels. We knew it was going to be like this. People probably tried to tell them. But games like this are easy to underestimate, even with all the build-up, the pre-season, the history and the very recent transfer events, it’s easy to undercount the pressure. We cannot afford to do so again.
Imagine how Alexander Isak feels. I wanted more gnarl but then I am gnarly. I wanted more “go fuck yourself” but you need the chances to show that.
Iraola is saved in the dying moments of this game by a Newcastle United blunder. A foul that probably was never needed given Liverpool’s blunted attack. Dominik Szoboszlai reclaims his place as Liverpool’s favourite as he withstands the pressure to smack the ball top left. A point flies back towards Liverpool and two points crumble at the heart of St James’ Park. They will feel it.
Newcastle didn’t deserve three points. Liverpool didn’t deserve one. Something had to give and we got away with murder.
Liverpool need organisation, fast. Our wingers, too deep, our full backs not engaged. Our star players unsure how to be stars. A team that was built around brilliance needs to be rebuilt again. The basics need doing well again. Certain, fast, scary football needs to be played, but that takes confidence, swagger, and fitness. We can do this, but as this game shows only too well, at the moment it is all so far from certain.
Rio Ngumoha looked so young. Last year on this ground he looked a star in waiting. This year we saw the waiting isn’t easy, the waiting is growing and developing and he looked far away from what Liverpool needed first-half and that hurt us in all phases first-half.
Newcastle’s dying moment concession, though, is not without cause either. Arguably their man of the match – Wissa – could have had two yellows and an early bath. They are close to the wire and eventually step over it. They deserve some credit for working Liverpool out, they deserve credit for effectively countering us. But this is not football for the ages and they know that.
Letting a goal in 2 minutes after Cody Gakpo’s equaliser is when we should do better. Last season we spent too much time with the game state against us and look at today. We concede too early; we concede too close to our equaliser. This is no way to play.
The first is because Ryan Gravenberch fails. But the second is because the whole side fails. Someone has to either win the ball or foul the man in his half and take the yellow. No one sees the building is on fire. Though it is a lovely finish from Joe Willock.
Gakpo looked mustard in this game – not one for giving up it seems. Isak never quite gets it right. It is damning we end with a game as fucked Lewis Koumas and exhausted Isak as the front two.
This manager plays a front two. He did at Vallecano. He did at Bournemouth. We cannot spend this season waiting for Ekitike to come back; we need one more central option with quality. Isak has such talent. We all deserve the chance to see more of it and we won’t see it running him into the ground.
We improve defensively in the second-half. There are fewer mistakes and it’s good to have Araujo come on for the final quarter. But we still have some way to get better especially when we know many teams in this league will play on the counter against us. We cannot demonstrate that as a route to success anymore.
But we don’t improve going forward. The midfield looked too confused and there are shots far off target that simply have to be better. Iraola needs urgently to have a clear plan on the pitch and a team certain about how to be better at delivering it.
We have to improve. We have to be better. We are not so short of effort, but football never stands still and everyone will improve around us. Liverpool’s challenge is to outpace them. Get better faster. It’s the only way.
We need attackers. We need defensive instinct in the heart of the pitch. We need to score when we are on top and we need to not concede when we are on top.
It is a journey and today is the first step but good god did it beg questions about the next ones.
Away games are hard. And by the end of the season Newcastle may make this look a good point. We will need to see.
None of it should take away from assessing Liverpool in this moment. It needs to be better. Quickly.
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