Liverpool boss Arne Slot has admitted that a trip to St James’ Park is a ‘difficult game for everyone’.
Newcastle United became just the third side to get a result against the league leaders following a 3-3 draw on Tyneside last month. Slot recognised how Liverpool ‘had a lot of problems with their intensity, their aggressive playing style’ after Newcastle fed off the energy of the crowd under the lights and captain Virgil van Dijk experienced first-hand how ‘the fans feed them, they win their challenges and the fans feed off that as well’.
That backing has been key to Newcastle losing just nine league games at home since Eddie Howe took charge of a relegation-threatened side in 2021 and the Magpies kept pushing against Liverpool after Mohamed Salah put the visitors in front with just a few minutes to go. Fabian Schar duly popped up with an equaliser right at the death.
It was the first time that Liverpool had conceded three goals under Slot – for context, the Reds had only shipped eight goals in the top-flight up to that point – and the Dutchman’s first visit to St James’ clearly left its mark.
“I said at the beginning of the season when we conceded one or two chances, sometimes, we were a bit lucky or it was the quality from the goalkeeper that we didn’t concede,” he told reporters. “I don’t think we concede many more chances than we did when we kept the clean sheets.
“We had a clean sheet against West Ham when they hit the bar and the post so that is a bit of football as well. It’s about the teams you face. If you go away to Newcastle, I think that’s a difficult away game for everyone. We conceded three there.”
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