It was another dramatic but devastating loss to Liverpool at St James’ Park for Eddie Howe and Newcastle United, as we were narrowly beaten 2-3 by the defending champions.
Goals from Ryan Gravenberch and Hugo Ekitike gave the visitors a frankly underserved lead, before heroics from Bruno Guimaraes and Will Osula brought us back level in the second half.
But it just wasn’t to be as Liverpool made the extra man count with Rio Ngumoha scoring the winner in the dying minutes.
Here’s what Howe had to say after an enthralling evening of action on Tyneside:
On suffering defeat despite spirited display
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Howe has expressed his frustration over how his team’s magnificent performance on Monday night was left unrewarded. Instead of taking at least a point against a notorious bogey opponent, all we have been left with is a bitter taste in our months.
“Yeah I think we did (deserve a result). I think it’s a really tough night for us on a number of fronts. You have them in football, but when they come along, they’re very very painful.”
“Today is a very painful one for us because we deserved something from the game. I think our performance was magnificent, but we lose the game, get no points, get a few injuries and problems which you could not have foreseen.”
“Of course you’re frustrated whenever you deserve to get points and don’t because you know the league is relentless, the challenges are great.
“So when you perform as well as we have done in the two games so far, we’ve ended up with one point which is a tough one for the lads to take.”
“But the spirit, the quality, the energy was there.”
On Anthony Gordon’s game-changing red card
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For the first 30 or so minutes of the game, we looked to be in control, pressing Liverpool back with our high press and pace up top, coming closest to opening the scoring.
But a quick 1-2 sucker punch of Gravenberch’s opener from distance, followed by Gordon’s cynical challenge on Virgil Van Dijk completely killed all momentum we had heading into half time.
Howe was at least sympathetic to Gordon being handed his second red card of 2025 however.
“My initial thought was, I saw it on a flash, I thought no because he tried to pull out. Everyone tells me it is, so I don’t know. I’ll have to digest it a bit further.
“Of course he wants it a lot. He’s gone in for a tackle on an awkward angle I think. But I think the most important thing in my opinion and just seeing it in a flash really quickly, I thought he tried to stop. I thought he tried to pull out. I don’t think there was any malice or intent to hurt Virgil Van Dijk in that split second.”
“I think for me there needs to be a bit of sympathy for Ant, because there’s no intent: there’s the key thing.”
On pair of debuts for Ramsey and Thiaw
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Having just missed out on registering in time for the opening weekend game against Aston Villa, we got to see our first glimpses of Jacob Ramsey and Malick Thiaw in a Newcastle kit.
And Howe has expressed his satisfaction with their brief cameos, where we can now perhaps expect both men to feature against Leeds at the weekend.
“Great night (for debutants). I feel like you only feel truly part of a football club when you play, and I thought all the players who came on the pitch today, who started did really really well. As I said, so pleased with the performance.”