Liverpool 2 Newcastle 0 – Instant Newcastle United fan/writer reaction | OneFootball

Instant fan / writer reaction from some of our regular contributors on The Mag.

‘Isak not on the team sheet was a big blow, an even bigger blow was the early soft goal we gave away.

Not at our best tonight and we needed to be, against the team that look like they are going to go on and win the title.

Hopefully the Brighton Cup game will see us bounce back, then on to an important game against West Ham in our pursuit of a Champions League place.

Then we all know what comes after that…’

Matt Busby said to Joe Harvey:

‘Oh well.

Lightning won’t strike twice will it?

Tell me ma!’

David Punton:

‘Losing at Anfield is a Newcastle Utd tradition, it would seem.

The Reds didn’t much break sweat tonight and still had enough to see us off.

Not many positives to take on a night when we had no shots on target and defended poorly.

We’re all excited about Wembley but this result serves up a massive dollop of reality.

Bruno looks shattered.

Pope has a big fat question mark hanging over him, and we didn’t even have Isak tonight, and his replacement Wilson was way off it.

If we want that league cup we need to be immeasurably better.

A bad night for us albeit against the champions in waiting.’

Tony Mallabar:

‘A rare night off for me as I wasn’t well on Tuesday night, so I used the ticket transfer for the first time.

Luckypool didn’t need to be Luckypool, as in truth Liverpool didn’t need to get out of second gear.

The effort and application was there but the cold reality is that Liverpool just have better players.’

Billy Miller:

‘I watched this with a Liverpool supporting mate and said beforehand I’d take a thrashing if we won the cup final.

So that result wasn’t all that bad…providing we win the cup final.

Let’s hope that Isak’s omission was precautionary.’

Jamie Smith:

‘I don’t really know what I make of this yet.

The thing I’m most bothered about is Isak missing out. He was there, so you’d think it’s a late precaution as opposed to anything to worry about, but I’ll be up a height until the teams come out on Sunday.

We never get owt here anyway, never mind when they’re storming the league, but you need to hope the slightly unadventurous approach was an observation exercise that will be put to use to devise a game plan that can win the league cup final.

Just move on everyone.’

Simon Ritter:

‘Did every player in black-and-white who started at Anfield believe we would win?

Some looked as though they had accepted defeat before kick-off.

Shorn of our best striker and best centre-half, the team needed a never-say-die attitude.

Instead, they let themselves be bullied by the champions-elect.

Both goals were down to carelessness in possession by our central midfielders. Guimaraes and Tonali didn’t cover themselves in glory.

The few half-chances we did make were squandered.

Honourable mentions for Gordon, who never stopped running, and Hall, who coped admirably against Salah.

Liverpool are not world-beaters, as Wolves showed at Anfield earlier this month.

If a team at the wrong end of the table can make life difficult for the Slot Machine, why cannot Newcastle?

We need more belief and more dynamism at Wembley when we face this lot again. Otherwise, it will be 1974 all over again.’

Liverpool 2 Newcastle 0 – Wednesday 26 February 2025 8.15pm

Goals:

Newcastle United:

Liverpool:

Szoboszlai 11, Mac Allister 63

Possession was Newcastle 39% Liverpool 61%

Total shots were Newcastle 3 Liverpool 12

Shots on target were Newcastle 0 Liverpool 3

Corners were Newcastle 2 Liverpool 4

Touches in the box Newcastle 16 Liverpool 29

Newcastle team v Forest:

Pope, Livramento (Trippier 69), Schar, Burn, Hall, Bruno (Longstaff 88), Tonali (Miley 69), Willock (Barnes 68), Gordon, Wilson (Osula 69), Murphy

Subs:

Dubravka, Ruddy, Krafth, Targett

Sunday 2 March –  Newcastle v Brighton (1.45pm) FA Cup fifth round – ITV1