Roy Keane loved one thing he saw from Liverpool against Newcastle despite ‘shocking’ performance | OneFootball

Roy Keane unsurprisingly didn’t mince his words in saying that Liverpool were ‘shocking’ in their 3-2 win over Newcastle on Monday night, but he still praised Arne Slot’s side for one reason in particular from that game.

There was a febrile atmosphere at St James’ Park as tensions were raised amid the Alexander Isak transfer saga, and that also manifested itself on the pitch as Simon Hooper issued five yellow cards and one red, with no fewer than 32 free kicks awarded on the night.

A pulsating contest saw the Reds throw away a 2-0 lead for the second week in the succession before Rio Ngumoha scored the winner in the 10th minute of stoppage time, with the 16-year-old having just come on for his Premier League debut.

Keane praises Liverpool’s resilience against Newcastle

Keane reflected on that rip-roaring match in the latest episode of The Overlap, and he praised Liverpool for standing up to Newcastle’s physicality and having the courage to go for all three points rather than settling for one.

The ex-Manchester United captain said: “As bad as Liverpool were, they stood up to all that stuff. I love football because of the physicality, but these Newcastle lads are getting stuck in and appealing for every decision and ironically one gets sent off, two go off injured, so Liverpool also stood up to that side of it. That’s why I give them credit.

“They wrestled back to win the game. Liverpool at 2-2 could have easily said, ‘Listen lads, it’s been a bad night, we’ve thrown it away, we’ll take the point and move on’. We all felt there was another goal coming. Even Newcastle will look at it and go, ‘Maybe we should have taken the draw’.

(Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images)

“Again, I give credit to Liverpool. Yes, they’ve started poorly in terms of their performances, but they’ve scored three or more. You can’t keep that all season… but ultimately, I give all the plaudits to Liverpool. They stood up to it. They were shocking but they won the game.

“The manager put a young kid [Ngumoha] on in a tight game like that and that’s the bravery of the manager. He did it last week with [Federico] Chiesa. You need your players off the bench, but he throws a young kid like that on in a hostile atmosphere. They’ll improve.”

Keane knows that such character can win Premier League titles

Keane isn’t wrong in saying that the Reds can’t keep relying on last-gasp goals to get them enough points to retain their Premier League title, and Slot will be all too aware of the need for his team to stop relinquishing winning positions if they’re to defend their crown.

Liverpool have already conceded four goals in the top flight this term with one match still to play in August. Last season, they let in only five in nine matches by the end of October.

However, LFC did show the mentality of champions by displaying the resilience to withstand a tough contest from Newcastle, who may have been quite robust in their approach but deserve credit for battling back from two goals down with a one-man disadvantage for the entire second half.

Keane knows from his own days as a title-winning midfielder at Man United that every team which goes on to lift the trophy has a few games where they need to show character to grind out a hard-fought win, even if the overall performance is quite flawed.

If Liverpool can maintain that indefatigable spirit while improving defensively and being less kamikaze when leading comfortably, they should be well within reach of retainign their Premier League crown, having already come through what’ll surely be one of their toughest tests of the season.