London: Rafa Benitez’s Newcastle United held his former team Liverpool to a 1-1 draw at St James’s Park, Sunday, a result that left the visitors seven points off the Manchester clubs at the top of the Premier League.
The game encapsulated Liverpool’s season once more as they took the lead through a superb Philippe Coutinho strike from 25 metres on 29 minutes, only to concede seven minutes later after shambolic defending allowed Joselu to latch on to Jonjo Shelvey’s pass through the middle.
As Joselu broke clear, Joel Matip’s attempted tackle only diverted the ball on to his shin and past the diving Simon Mignolet.
Juergen Klopp’s mood on the sidelines did not improve when Daniel Sturridge, who was starting in place of Roberto Firmino, squandered a chance from close range after a mis-kick from Newcastle defender Ciaran Clark.
Visitors Liverpool, looked hesitant at the back and tentative in front of goal with Sturridge too often caught offside. Firmino, Dominic Solanke and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain were all brought on but Newcastle held on as Benitez kept his unbeaten record in five games as a manager against Liverpool.
Klopp later bemoaned Liverpool’s poor finishing. “I am disappointed, frustrated, whatever you want. We scored a wonderful goal and created wonderful chances,” Klopp told ‘the BBC’ after the game.
“We shot the ball over the goal even when it was empty. We created five or six outstanding, big chances. Usually we score with one of them. I didn’t see one more chances for Newcastle.
“If you don’t help yourself, no one else help you. It will be like this until we score. We play like this it makes sense that we play like this usually we score in situations like this. We have to accept this and carry on,” added Klopp.
reuters