When Liverpool came to Newcastle last August, there was utter jubilation as Rio Ngumoha scored a remarkable 100th-minute winner. They scored late again this time around, through Dominik Szoboszlai's 99th-minute penalty, but it felt more like a sense of relief than joy as they rescued a point. Andoni Iraola said afterwards that his side did not deserve to lose and, to their credit, they never gave up as they earned a 2-2 draw.
A defeat would have been Liverpool's first on the opening weekend since 2012-13. A draw will do wonders for their spirit but it will certainly not mask their concerns. "It's probably not the result you want when you come in before the game but we definitely deserve this point and even more," Iraola told BBC Radio 5 Live.
"The team has never given up and we've recovered one point and probably the taste is better because we score in the last minute." Iraola will be content with the outcome, given his side trailed twice at a raucous St James' Park. But on the flight back to Merseyside on Sunday evening, he would have had time to consider the performance, which highlighted why his squad needs more depth. "You're expecting Liverpool to get top four this season at least but they didn't look like a top four team today," former Scotland winger Pat Nevin told 5 Live.
"There are more players to come in, so you can't make a real decision on how their season is going to go. "There's a definite lack of creativity and somehow they must get the best out of Florian Wirtz and Alexander Isak because you certainly didn't get the best out of them today." All eyes were on Wirtz and Isak - the Sweden striker, signed from Newcastle in a drawn-out saga last September, was booed relentlessly whenever he touched the ball. Wirtz did start positively, but was replaced just after the hour mark after Newcastle went 2-1 up.
Isak had 28 touches and looked fired up but wasted a brilliant opportunity in the second half - the kind of which he would take regularly when he was at Newcastle. Both of them, signed for nine-figure fees last summer, will know that their overall output and connection must improve over the coming weeks and months. This remains a Liverpool side offering more questions than answers.
One significant question is the Cody Gakpo conundrum, which will roll into the final week of the transfer window. If Liverpool do bring in two more attacking players then Gakpo may leave. The club have been linked with Paris St-Germain's Bradley Barcola and Ibrahim Mbaye and have had two bids rejected for Brighton's Yankuba Minteh.
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