'Don't even know' - Arne Slot blown away by what Newcastle United star did v Liverpool
Liverpool boss Arne Slot singled out one Newcastle United player after his side’s 3-3 draw at St James’ Park on Wednesday night.
The Reds twice came from behind on Tyneside to lead 3-2, however the Magpies delivered a late sucker punch when Fabian Schar equalised in the 90th minute.
Slot gave credit to the Magpies for their first-half performance and suggested they deservedly led through Alexander Isak’s 35th minute opener. It was a strike was distance that left the Dutchman stunned.
“To go away to Newcastle is such a difficult game to play and they have so much quality, throughout the whole squad but especially upfront as well,” said Slot.
“So that they are able to score a goal, that's not a surprise for me and especially the first one, what a finish that was: from them I mean, ours was a great finish as well, but that shot from Isak, I don't even know if Caoimh [Kelleher] saw that goal, as hard as it was.”
In the second-half, Slot felt his team were “dominant”. They levelled through Curtis Jones before Anthony Gordon put Newcastle back ahead.
Trent Alexander-Arnold, Dominik Szoboszlai and Luis Diaz were introduced from the bench and it was Alexander-Arnold who twice set up Mohammed Salah for 3-2.
But it was the home side’s turn to hit back when Bruno Guimaraes’ free-kick delivery was missed by goalkeeper Caoimh Kelleher and slid home by Schar.
Slot added: “There were moments in the game where you thought if we could come away from here with a draw it would be a good result, but those moments were mainly in the first half.
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“In the second half, especially after we scored for 1-1, I thought we were really impressive. We created so many opportunities, good chances. Then, one minute before the end being 3-2 up, it feels like a disappointment to drop two points.
“I think Mo had a massive impact on the game as well. Dom [Szoboszlai] came in really well, Lucho [Luis Diaz] also, but I think in general in the second half we played much, much better than the first half.
“In the first half we had a lot of problems with their intensity, aggressive playing style without the ball – aggressive in a good way. We tried to cope with it, but every time we touched them we got a yellow and that doesn't really help for us to be intense then as well.
“But we give credit to them, they were more intense than us. They forced us into too many mistakes. It wasn't that difficult for us to be better in the second half with the ball and that's what we were. Maybe it was difficult for them to keep the intensity of the first 45 minutes going and as a result of that, or of all of these things, we dominated the second half.”