Publications
Partners
Last season’s top scorers Sadio Mané and Mohamed Salah came together today to give Liverpool a 3-1 Premier League victory over Newcastle to keep them at the top of the Premiership table with a perfect five victories from five.
A capacity crowd at Anfield saw Mané score twice in the first half after Dutch international Jetro Willems gave the visitors an early lead.
Salah put matters beyond doubt midway through the second half to ensure Liverpool is the only side with an unblemished record.
Jürgen Klopp made two changes to the Liverpool side that beat Burnley in their last match before the international break, dropping Roberto Firmino and Jordan Henderson, who both played for their national sides midweek.
In their place, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Divock Origi started the game.
Klopp explained the move by saying that, although both could have played, they needed a break.
“We have to think about the bigger picture. We could have made more changes, but we need to think about the rhythm as well, and we respect Newcastle too much to think about rotating and rotating. Newcastle were impressive against Tottenham, they were physically strong with a clear plan, and we need to have solutions for that,” he said.
True to his word, Newcastle took an early lead after Christian Atsu set up Willems. The defender, who found himself in an unexpected attacking position, went past Trent Alexander-Arnold and sent a scorcher into the top right corner of the net, leaving goalkeeper Adrian no chance.
Even though they were behind, the home team took some time to find their rhythm, but once they had, they were in control, notwithstanding a forced substitution – bringing on Firmino for an injured Origi in the first half.
The Brazilian went on to give a man-of-the match performance.
Liverpool players had a strong penalty appeal turned down midway through the first half when Joël Matip was brought down after a corner, but the referee waved play on and the video assistant referee did not intervene.
Two minutes later, though, all anger was forgotten as a cross into the box from Andrew Robertson came to Mané, who scored with an unstoppable shot into the top right.
The goal spurred the home side on and it was only a matter of time before they scored a second. It came five minutes from the break after Newcastle goalkeeper Martin Dubravka failed to hold on to a speculative Firmino pass into the area. Instead, the ball came to Mané, who had a simple tap-in.
Being 2-1 down at the break, Newcastle knew they had a fight on their hands as Liverpool have not lost in 94 matches at home when leading at the break, and the start of the second half gave the visitors little to hope for. The Reds dominated in all aspects of the game and it was only some excellent goalkeeping by Dubravka, who more than made up for his earlier mistake, that kept Liverpool at bay.
However, the Slovakian international could do nothing when Firmino set up Salah in the 72nd minute and the Egyptian took the ball into the box before slipping it past the outrushing Dubravka.
Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk praised his side for their comeback.
“Obviously it was very important to get the three points. It was tough to break them [Newcastle] down. To be 1-0 down here is not good, but we reacted the right way. We needed to be organised,” Van Dijk said.
“Roberto Firmino is a very important player for all of us. He is making life difficult for any defender in the world. He is so good, and I am very happy that he plays for my team.”
 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Get in touchCity Press | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rise above the clutter | Choose your news | City Press in your inbox | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| City Press is an agenda-setting South African news brand that publishes across platforms. Its flagship print edition is distributed on a Sunday. |
