Liverpool travel to Newcastle United on Sunday for the opening round of the Premier League at St James’ Park. It is a strange location to travel on opening day as Newcastle as a club are currently in a state of disarray. They have lost the star spine to their team and long-term manager Eddie Howe [left](https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11095/13568323/eddie-howe-newcastle-head-coach-leaves-role-with-magpies-after-nearly-five-years-in-charge) less than a month ago due to difficulties behind the scenes with the ownership.
Howe felt he could bring the squad forward this year if the club recruited well, but when Sandro Tonali moved to Spurs, he felt this wouldn’t be possible.
This leaves Liverpool fans looking to take advantage of a team in a state of uncertainty, but also have to be wary of how the squad could be motivated to play on behalf of the club and get a result for their home crowd in these circumstances.
Eddie Howe had been at Newcastle for about five years and left less than a month ago. That is a major shock Newcastle fans and Premier League fans alike.
Matthias Jaissle is a young manager who came through the Red Bull pipeline before heading to Saudi Arabia.
Jaissle played for Hoffenheim in Germany, where interestingly he played alongside former Liverpool players, Ryan Babel and Roberto Firmino.
Jaissle would then go on to manage Firmino at Al-Alhi.
Fans know the spectacle that gets made around the new manager bounce when a manager is replaced mid-season as players try to impress their new coach. Liverpool are obviously under direction from Andoni Iraola in the Premier League for the first time, but the freshness of Jaissle’s appointment will make this idea of the new manager bounce more fresh for Newcastle, particularly in front of the home crowd.
When you look at the Liverpool side that saw Newcastle side that qualified for the Champions League in 2024/25, their squad had been torn apart. Liverpool of course took Alexander Isak in the famous transfer saga last summer, but this summer. Newcastle’s squad has been pulled apart.
They lost Anthony Gordon to Barcelona, Sandro Tonali to Spurs and Bruno Guimarães to Arsenal. While this has generated about £250 million in transfer revenue it has not left the squad in a stronger position. While they have spent nearly £200 million on replacements, it will take time for this squad to come together, Liverpool need to take advantage of this situation.
St James’ Park has been a happy hunting ground for Liverpool in recent years, although it has never been easy. Newcastle haven’t won against Liverpool at St James’ Park since 2015, when Gini Wijnaldum scored for Newcastle against the Reds. In the nine meetings since then, Liverpool have won six and there have been three draws. One of the most famous was in August 2023. Liverpool went 1-0 down to an Anthony Gordon goal, two minutes later Virgil van Dijk was sent off and Liverpool dominated for the rest of the game. Jurgen Klopp rolled the dice with 13 minutes to go and brought on Darwin Nunez. Nunez famously scored two on the counter attack and the travelling Kop in the heights of the St James’ Park away end went crazy. Last season, it was the turn of Rio Ngumoha to send the travelling Kop wild as he scored in the 100th minute.