Newcastle United defender Dan Burn looks dejected as Liverpool celebrate
Newcastle United defender Dan Burn looks dejected as Liverpool celebrate (Image: LINDSEY PARNABY/AFP)
How do you stop a runaway steam roller charging downhill? With difficulty!
Liverpool are as frightening as that. Nine points clear at the top of the Premier League after losing their beloved manager Jurgen Klopp and a 100 per cent record in the Champions League. Both after disposing of the respective current champions Manchester City and Real Madrid in their last two matches. Awesome is it not?
Their record in all competitions under head coach Arne Slot reads played 20, won 18, drawn one, and lost one. That is truly remarkable and formidable. In Europe they have beaten Real, Bayer Leverkusen, AC Milan, Bologna, and RB Leipzig, scoring 12 times and conceding just once. Slotted right in our Arnie.
Welcome to the red tidal wave. Welcome to the comeback match for Newcastle United having lost last time out at St James Park, once a Tyneside fortress.
How do you halt them? Well it can be done actually. We beat title rivals Arsenal up here not so long ago and Nottingham Forest beat Liverpool at Anfield. There have been bigger upsets than Newcastle managing to defeat the Scousers at home.... Buster Douglas flattened a monstrous Mike Tyson. Wigan beat Man City in a modern FA Cup final. Non-league Hereford knocked top flight Newcastle out of the FA Cup (did I really need to say that!)
However reality is a different thing. For every upset a dozen match-ups go according to expectation and United haven't the best of records when accepting a home challenge against Liverpool.
We have lost five and drawn two of our last seven meetings at the cathedral on the hill. You have to go back almost 10 years to 2015-16 for the last black and white victory, 2-0 through a Martin Skrtel own goal and a strike by Georginio Wijnaldum who ironically went on to sign for Liverpool which means I guess two who have featured on their payroll beat them that day!
While Alexander Isak thankfully is expected to play despite hobbling off after only 20 minutes at Crystal Palace his injury has concentrated Geordie minds on their team's biggest problem. Quick, free-flowing football last season saw only Man City score more than the 85 goals rattled in by Howe's side. However fast forward to this campaign and Newcastle look a shadow of their former selves.
More than £400m million has been spent on players since the Saudi takeover in 2021 but the Magpies failed to register a shot on goal at Selhurst Park and have notched just 14 goals overall _ only four teams have a lower total in the Premier League and all are engrossed in a relegation fight.
Eddie Howe has to wrestle with complex tactical selections in midfield and up top when we all know the perfect answer doesn't lie within the club but within the transfer market through clever buying rather than scatter gun selection of targets yet I'm not expecting a sudden surge of activity in January.
Rediscovering that wonderful team spirit with everyone buying into the project and hunting down the opposition enthusiastically in packs may be just as big a problem for Howe to solve. The body language of certain players isn't good and smacks more of being resigned to an inevitability than passionate belief.
In comparison Liverpool are a team of all stars led by the swaggering Egyptian King Mo Salah whose goal and assist downed the champions City leaving them 11 points behind the heir apparents. I know Man U once made up 12 points on Newcastle but this really does feel like a changing of the guard.
As for Salah if we believe Isak must be kept at Newcastle what about Salah whose contract is about to run out? He has 13 goals and 11 assists so far this campaign, a staggering 226 goals alone in his Liverpool career, and he isn't even a centre-forward. Maybe he is 32 but he shows no signs of slowing down or constantly picking up injuries. Try replacing him.
If we deal in reality rather than a roll of the dice then the main thing we can cling to is the fact that United usually lift their game at home to the biggest challenges. They are much more potent when teams come onto them and they can counter attack with pace. Liverpool will not sit in, that's for sure but really it feels like we are clinging to any straw floating in the wind. It is first against 11th, 34pts against 19, 26 goals against 14.
Still, United must dig deep into their well of professionalism and find pride, personal motivation, and a desire to fiercely protect individual reputation. That applies to every single person on the NUFC payroll who is taking part on the turf or off it. No one is exempt.