Liverpool can look back on the Newcastle result and performance with a great degree of pride. Jürgen Klopp said ‘football schools’ could study it from a counter-pressing perspective, and the Premier League expected goal record was shattered.
It’s rare that a four-goal outing represents such a significant underperformance when it comes to finishing. But Liverpool knows it should probably have been out of sight long before it actually was — with a two-goal cushion only restored from the spot in the 86th minute.
Newcastle had briefly been allowed back into the contest when Sven Botman headed in from a corner, the second goal to come completely against the run of play. Speaking to the BBC, Klopp took a degree of responsibility for that, recognizing that set pieces can be harder to defend after substitutions have been made.
However, it should still have been preventable. Klopp revealed that his assistant, Peter Kraweitz, spotted how it all might unfold just a fraction too late:
“With changes it’s not that easy on set pieces, but Pete Kraweitz sat next to me, stood up [and shouted] ‘Burn!’ — and here we go. So twice not awake, but besides that, unbelievable game.”
And it’s worth focusing in on that latter part. Liverpool might have come close to letting Newcastle back in at times, but make no mistake, this was a hugely one-sided affair.
For Klopp, perhaps unsurprisingly, the secret lay in his side’s intensity. He praised the players’ ability to keep pushing through the congested fixture period, and gave some of the credit to the Anfield crowd:
“It’s just super intense. But there’s no alternative to intense football if you want to win football games, and the boys did again, pushed by an incredible atmosphere. Oh my god, what Anfield can produce is really sensational. So it was a good start to the New Year.”
