Newcastle United’s 16-match unbeaten Premier League run came to an end following a defeat to Liverpool at St James’ Park.
Eddie Howe’s side found themselves 2-0 down via goals from Darwin Nunez and Cody Gakpo before playing 68 minutes with 10 men following Nick Pope’s red card.
The defeat was United’s first on Tyneside since April 2022 when they lost to the same opposition, and only their second loss of the 2022-23 campaign.
United fell behind on 11 minutes when Nunez latched onto a ball by Trent Alexander-Arnold. Klopp side’s then doubled their lead seven minutes later when Gakpo slotted home from a Mohamed Salah pass.
It was a nightmare start by Howe’s side, but things got unimaginabley worse when Pope was shown a straight red card for a handball when attempting to clear Alisson’s long ball over the top.
Howe’s men, to their credit, performed well despite being a man down, with Liverpool’s Alisson making three quality saves to deny Miguel Almiron, Allan Saint-Maximin and Callum Wilson.
Our writer Jordan Cronin was at St James’ Park - and here’s his Newcastle United player ratings:
1. Nick Pope - 3
Pope has been one of Newcastle’s players of the season but tonight was a total disaster. A cruel blow to miss the Carabao Cup final, but he can have no complaints about his red card.
2. Kieran Trippier - 5
Liverpool’s two opening goals were checked by VAR for offside - but Trippier was the man poorly playing Nunez & Gakpo onside. Liverpool restricted the right-back from getting forward.
3. Fabian Schar - 6
Carried the ball up the field at every opportunity but struggled with Liverpool’s long passes over the top. Headed a corner narrowly wide in the second half.
4. Sven Botman - 6
Like Schar, Botman didn’t deal well aerially. And similar to Bournemouth, his distribution wasn’t up to usual standard.