The Premier League witnessed one of the most entertaining games of the season so far with a crucial last-minute win for Liverpool against Newcastle United at St. James Park after a continuous chase that lasted throughout the game.
Liverpool secured their second win of the season following their initial win against Bournemouth, which allows them to keep progressing and improving their weaknesses with less pressure, even though the team has been receiving criticism regarding their performance against Newcastle.
Winning such complicated games is very important for the team to gain confidence and play without intense pressure.
It is also very useful for the advantage they are trying to get at the expense of their rivals for the title, knowing that all of Manchester City, Manchester United, and Chelsea failed to collect six points out of the two initial games.
It is true that the value of these two wins cannot be sensed at the moment, but their importance will certainly matter at the end of the season, when each point of advantage matters at the top spots.
Newcastles loss was painful and did not really reflect what this team deserved, as they put on a powerful performance against a tough opponent.
Some individual mistakes, such as the red card, punished Newcastle despite their late comeback in the match and their ability to score two goals to equalise the score.
Attacking-wise, Newcastle were good enough to exploit Liverpool’s defensive mistakes, especially in the air and during set-pieces, and that’s how they succeeded in scoring their two goals.
However, that was not enough for them to avoid the loss.
They failed to resist Liverpool’s last-minute attempts and, due to a marking issue, allowed Rio Ngumoha to score the decisive goal.
In this tactical analysis of the match between Newcastle and Liverpool, the focus will be centred on Newcastle United tactics to exploit their superiority in aerial duels in open play and during set-pieces.
The analysis will also shed light on the Liverpool style of play, efficient shooting from distance and finishing accuracy since that was the aspect that ultimately made the difference for the Reds.
Newcastle Vs Liverpool Formations
Eddie Howe started the match in a 4-3-3 formation, with Nick Pope as a goalkeeper, Fabian Schär and Dan Burn as centre-backs, Kieran Trippier as a right-back, and Tino Livramento as a left-back.
The midfield was made up of Sandro Tonali as a defensive midfielder, Joelinton and Bruno Guimarães as central midfielders, with all of Harvey Barnes and the new signing, Anthony Elanga, playing on both wings.
For the striker role, Alexander Isak has not participated in the match mainly due to his issues with the club regarding his potential transfer move, which obliged Howe to rely on an alternative for the starting games of the season.
Opting for Anthony Gordon was Howe’s best possible alternative for now.
Although Gordon is mainly a winger, he has been used as a striker so far this season.
That said, Newcastle will have to seriously consider either resolving the complicated situation with their main striker, Isak, or anticipating the end of the transfer window and aiming to buy one of the available strikers in the market to provide a more natural solution in the striker role.
In fact, Newcastle can even make a more economical and strategic choice by relying on their striker, William Osula, and giving him more playing time to gain confidence and potentially become the team’s main striker.
He may have the abilities needed to replace Isak over time.
Being a natural striker would also help him become even more reliable than Gordon for that position, with Gordon becoming the second striker option or moving back to one of the wings.
On the other hand, Arne Slot chose to start the match with the 4-2-3-1 formation using Alisson Becker as a goalkeeper, Ibrahima Konaté and Virgil van Dijk as centre-back, Dominik Szoboszlai as a right-back as he was preferred over Wataru Endo, Joe Gomez, and Curtis Jones mainly thanks to Szoboszlai’s more consistent teamwork in both the attacking and the defensive phases, knowing that Jeremie Frimpong and Conor Bradley were not yet fit to play the game.
On the left side, Slot opted for Milos Kerkez instead of Andy Robertson, and this choice was criticised mainly because Kerkez’s performance was not convincing enough in both Liverpool games.
This suggests that Robertson’s experience would have been more useful to Liverpool, especially in the defensive phase.
The midfield was formed of Ryan Gravenberch and Jones as central midfielders, with the German Florian Wirtz playing as an advanced playmaker, Mohamed Salah and Cody Gakpo as wingers.
At the same time, the main striker was Hugo Ekitike, the new signing from Eintracht Frankfurt.
Newcastle Vs Liverpool Lineups
Newcastle Vs Liverpool - EPL 2025/2026 - Tactical Analysis
Newcastle Vs Liverpool Lineups
Newcastle’s Exploitation Of Aerial Duels In Open Play & Set-Pieces
Newcastle’s reliance on crossing and search for aerial duels to punish Liverpool’s defence was recurring in this match, with 20 attempted crosses for the Toon compared to 10 for the Reds.
As soon as Newcastle got the chance to advance after resisting Liverpool’s high-pressing attempts, they relied on ball circulation towards both wings, but noticed that Liverpool was securing their defensive lines well.
This mad
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