Liverpool didn't deserve to win the game, but they didn't deserve to lose it either. The ref got a lot of things wrong, especially regarding Trent Alexander Arnold. That was as blatant of a foul that you will ever see. Pushed him square in the back and he slid about 12 feet. If he did is job and called a foul there, TAA wouldn't have reacted the way that he did. Even so, TAA knew the rules though. Throw in the fact that Joelinton probably committed enough fouls to earn 3 yellow cards was also pretty telling.
At least he got it right regarding the push on Anthony. It wasn't a promising attack that he stopped, and he wasn't hit in the face like a lot of people said that he was. It was forearm to shoulder. Not a yellow card. Trent stayed super composed after that the rest of the game.
Two games in a row, Liverpool has two very controversial red card decisions go against them. (I guess Liverpool don't get all of the calls, right?) I think the red was a super soft call and each time I watch it, I can call it yellow or red. It was really close. Van Dijk will be suspended; there's no way that PGMOL will overturn this one.
After Liverpool went down to 10 men, they were arguably the better team for most of the game. Newcastle had 2 chances that should have put the back of the net and didn't.
Darwin NUNEZ! Now 16 goals in 23 starts, and he is still considered somewhat of a disappointment. Partly because he is compared to Haaland and partly because he missed a lot of chances that he just buried this game.
Agree on the initial non-foul call on Gordon. Disagree on the arm across Gordon. Upshot being, he should've been on a yellow and not gotten a second, so all in all it worked out.
Disagree on the red. That was a bang-on red card. Sloppy obvious foul from the last man. How is that anything but red? Also, he deserves his extra ban, as he reacted poorly.
Agree on Joelinton should have seen a yellow. Surprised he wasn't.
Agree that Liverpool looked the better team. Kind of a mirror image of last season, but yinz already had the two goals so managed to hold on. Newcastle couldn't get the second--and honestly, played stupid and soft and Howe made stupid substitutions--and yinz pushed and it payed off. I can't argue with the result, though it still makes me want to vomit. Also, I thought, after we got to the half at 1-0, Howe would re-set the team and unleash the hounds. Instead they went for a soft, possession-based game. Dumb as all get out. Man, this season isn't off to a great start, and now we're staring down a visit to Brighton. A loss there and we'll be sucking heading into Europe. Plus the Botman injury hurts. Oof, just off.
Speaking of Botman, it's a funny old game, isn't it? Had the man covered but the ball takes a bad bounce off him, and voila! Goal. Without that, I think Newcastle see out the victory. Ah well.
Oh, and I still hate that clown Klopp
