The festive period can see teams stretched to their limits and this was evident in an absolute rollercoaster at St. James’ Park as Liverpool and Newcastle United played out an instant classic of a 3-3 draw. Amid his contract uncertainty, Mohamed Salah surpassed Alexander Isak’s goal and assist with two goals and an assist of his own as the Reds were able to recover from being down twice in the match. They will find it difficult to have conceded a goal to Fabian Schar in the 90th minute, but without half of their basic defensive line, a draw against good teams can produce as good a result as any.
This result sees Arne Slot’s Reds lose ground at the top of the league, but with a nine-point lead, getting a result on Wednesday was more important. Liverpool were pushed to their limits by starting Joe Gomez and Jarell Quansah in defense thanks to an injury to Ibrahima Konate and rest for Trent Alexander-Arnold (as well as an injury to Alexander-Arnold’s natural backup at right-back, Conor Bradley ).
Newcastle could give Liverpool value for money, but the concern from other teams in the league is that it took an unreal performance from Isak to do it. Not many players have the unique skills that the Swedish striker has, and even fewer can hit a ball like this.
Liverpool would have thought they had everything under control, but against Isak that is impossible. Liverpool leveled early in the second half through Curtis Jones, who is coming into his own under Slot, but then the Salah show began, with the Egyptian increasing his league tally to thirteen goals and eight assists this season.
There are questions about where Liverpool would be without Salah’s performances, and while it’s not something we need to worry about this season, it could be on the horizon sooner rather than later. Every goal is a reason to pay him what he wants, because with 21 goals, Salah is now responsible for scoring or assisting a whopping 72% of Liverpool’s goals this season. If it ain’t broke there’s no reason to fix it, but if you’re looking for a reason why Liverpool can’t impose a sustainable title charge from thread to thread, that’s the one to point to.
With Konate going down with a knee injury, Liverpool were able to keep a clean sheet against Manchester City before conceding three goals against Newcastle. It’s too early to tell if this is a chink in their armor, but it is the first time in seven games that Liverpool have looked anything but impenetrable.
They will need to bounce back in this weekend’s Merseyside derby against Everton, a match that is always a closely fought affair. Slot has pushed all the right buttons so far this season, but if he fails to pick up points against Everton it could lead to his first spell in charge. This is when their title credentials will really be tested, as a win there could put everything out of reach and end the weekend with at least a seven-point lead over the Premier League.