Fabian Schar was left on the ground for a prolonged period during the build-up and Naby Keita put the ball inside the net.
Follow Us
Newcastle United head coach Eddie Howe admits he didn’t expect Liverpool’s winner to be disallowed despite controversy in the build up. Fabian Schar was left on the ground for a prolonged period during the build-up and Naby Keita put the ball inside the net. Newcastle’s four game winning streak was ended by Jurgen Klopp’s side. The result helped Liverpool to move to the summit of the standings for time being before Manchester city thrashed Leeds united 4-0 to move back to the top. Newcastle are currently placed 10th in the table with 43 points from 35 games, and will travel to Manchester City next week before hosting Arsenal and then finish the season at Burnley.
? The boss’ thoughts on today’s defeat at St. James’ Park.
⚫️⚪️
— Newcastle United FC (@NUFC) April 30, 2022
Read more;
Jadon Sancho news: Major blow for Manchester United, the winger could be out for the season
Liverpool scored the lone goal of the match in the 19th minute when James Milner made a tough tackle on Schar, the ball fell to Jordan Henderson, who played it to Keita on the right channel. The 27-year-old midfielder played a nice one-two with Diogo Jota before rounding Martin Dubravka and slotting home from six yards. Newcastle players immediately protested for a foul on Schar, but the referee stood with his decision and VAR didn’t see enough evidence to overturn the decision.
“I haven’t seen it back but my initial reaction was we will be lucky if VAR saves us here,” he admitted to reporters after the game. “It looked an untidy coming together but I couldn’t see if there was a foul on Fabian. Obviously he stays down and then we missed him in the heart of our defence as they counter-attacked against us. It’s a disappointing way to lose the game because for the majority of the game, yes they had chances but they didn’t really open us up too many times and Martin made some good saves from distance. It was pretty pleasing how we defended generally but that one cost us.”
However, the English tactician admitted Newcastle weren’t good enough to take points off the mighty Liverpool. The Reds are chasing a quadruple, having already secured the EFL Cup, will play FA Cup final next month, placed second in the Premier League points table and have kept one step in the final of Champions League after defeating Villarreal 2-0 in the first leg of semi-final at Anfield last week. Because of the upcoming away leg at El Madrigal on Tuesday, Klopp made five changes to the side that got the job dome at the home leg. “They rotated their team slightly today,” Howe said. “They had quality from the bench, we knew that and that is the standard and the quality of their squad. We run them all the way today and it was close but it wasn’t close enough.”
Manchester City vs Liverpool: Talking points from the action-packed draw
