Jurgen Klopp’s relentless red machine continues to move ominously towards history.
That quick turnaround from a Champions League semi-final? No problem. Starting without four players who would walk into the first XI of 18 of their Premier League rivals? Brushed off with ease. This was a Newcastle side who had not lost in the league all year, but such is the brilliance of this Liverpool side they made it look like they were barely breaking sweat.
Klopp’s reaction at the conclusion belied that there was perhaps substance to his pre-match complaints about the schedulers who had sent them to the North East just 72 hours after being forced to break down Villareal’s Champions League equation.
A roar on the touchline followed by a clenched fist and high fives with his support staff suggested he felt this was another critical victory for his side, applying sizeable pressure on Manchester City ahead of their game against Leeds at Elland Road.
The scariest part for City and the others with pretensions to end their golden run? Take out some of the key parts of this generational side and they are still capable of whirring through the obstacles that stand in the way of a triumphant march towards the quadruple.
Mo Salah was rested, Thiago benched and Trent Alexander-Arnold named as a substitute. Those that came in for that trio took a short while to get up to speed but when they did Newcastle could not find an answer to the equation Klopp posed.
The only skirmish Newcastle won was when Joelinton squared up to Diogo Jota, whipping the crowd into a frenzy. Both players were brandished with yellow cards on a day when Newcastle’s biggest mitigation for being out-played was that they didn’t get the rub of the green from the officials.
It was, in truth, a flimsy argument. A sell-out home crowd sang that it was ‘1-0 to the referee’ but Andre Marriner was not the reason they lost. James Milner’s tackle on Fabian Schar that preceded the opening goal looked at first as if it was a foul but Marriner had made the right call: the Liverpool man won the ball and the game played on correctly.
Naby Keita was to score in the passage of the play that followed, Matty Targett having been pulled out of position in the build up. It was a good goal and quelled the pre-match St James’ Park storm.
Liverpool’s excellence should probably have warranted further goals. Saido Mane let Newcastle off the hook while Martin Dubravka was the home side’s man of the match, pulling off a string of superb saves to keep Eddie Howe’s side in the contest. For all that there’s been talk of Newcastle replacing him with another goalkeeper in the summer, he remains a class act.
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It was that kind of day for the home side.
Amanda Staveley has spoken of Newcastle challenging for the Premier League title within five years but here was a reminder in technicolour just how far the club majority-owned by the Saudi PIF has to travel before becoming genuine contenders.
It was not that the home side dipped below recent standards to any great degree, just that their opponents were savvier, their movement slicker and patterns of play more in sync.
The only answer for an overtly ambitious Newcastle is to recruit better players, like Guimaeres, who is the lynchpin of a new model Magpies with pretensions to assert themselves at the top. The yawning chasm between Liverpool and Newcastle – who are by no means alone in playing catch up – was perhaps best summed up in the final 25 minutes when the homes side summoned Chris Wood from the bench, only for the Reds to bring Salah into the fray.
Perhaps Newcastle’s tactics were off, with Allan Saint-Maximin unable to gain a foothold against the imperious partnership of Virgil van Dijk and Joel Matip. Joelinton had prospered on the left against Norwich but that was Norwich. This time the formation looked lightweight. For all that he lacks mobility, Wood’s hold up play allows Newcastle to break more
While it lacked the euphoria of the late, Guimaeres-inspired victory over Leicester this kind of afternoon might – in the long run – benefit the Magpies. Six straight home wins had extinguished memories of their battle to stay in the division but on the seventh home game, there will at least be a recalibration of expectation. They have Manchester City next, which could be just as sobering.
Liverpool will switch to Newcastle supporters then, hoping their rivals won’t match their results as we zero in on another fascinating title run-in. On this evidence, they will do their bit and win every game they have left, one way or another.
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