Goodness knows what the man who was not there made of it all. Might Alexander Isak have felt the tiniest bit guilty at the sight of his understudy, Anthony Gordon, missing a couple of extremely presentable chances before becoming so overwrought he was sent off for a ridiculous first-half tackle on Virgil Van Dijk?
How did Newcastle’s currently striking star striker assess Hugo Ekitiké’s performance? And, even as he continues to endeavour to engineer a move to Anfield where he hopes to partner Ekitiké in Liverpool’s team, did Isak at least half-celebrate Will Osula’s unexpected late Newcastle leveller to make it 2-2 before 16-year-old Rio Ngumoha won it for the champions in the 100th minute?
Given that the Sweden striker was watching from elsewhere in the north-east we will never know. What was abundantly clear though was that the emotions engendered by the summer’s longest and most acrimonious transfer saga provoked a night of compelling, wild drama.
Arne Slot has said he is closer to Eddie Howe than any other Premier League coach but, if Liverpool and Newcastle’s managers are on friendly texting terms, relations between their teams remain somewhat frostier.
Sure enough Ryan Gravenberch’s early booking for a wince-inducing tackle on Bruno Guimarães set the tone as this rerun of last season’s Carabao Cup final opened at an almost anarchic 100mph.
If Liverpool wanted revenge for that Wembley defeat, the sheer fury of a Newcastle crowd incensed by the Anfield club’s pursuit of Isak, and their perceived audacity in hijacking Howe’s move for Ekitiké transmitted itself to Howe’s team.
Before too long Gordon would self-destruct but, for a while, he rattled Liverpool. The England winger, once again deputising for Isak out of position at centre-forward, may not be exactly reliable in front of goal but Gordon is extremely clever at winning dangerous free-kicks. Accordingly Slot twice lost his cool complaining that he had blatantly dived after inviting challenges.
It was left to a deep-sitting Van Dijk to try to stay calm and slow the tempo at every opportunity. At times they lived dangerously and Alisson Becker would have been relieved to see Gordon head fractionally over the bar after meeting Harvey Barnes’s cross, but the impressive approach work of Sandro Tonali was repeatedly undone by the lack of a specialist striker.
Given that Monday saw Wolves reject a £50m bid from St James’ Park for their centre-forward Jørgen Strand Larsen, Howe must have been tempted to ask Alan Shearer to swap his seat in a private box for the pitch at half-time.
The directors’ box contained Newcastle’s chair, Yasir al-Rumayyan. Might one of al-Rumayyan’s rare visits from Saudi Arabia have been timed to negotiate a deal to sell Isak to Liverpool? Or maybe to tell them they could not have the Sweden striker after all? The boardroom conversation can hardly have been dull.
Neither was a first half initially dominated by a home side who, nonetheless, fell behind when an unsighted Nick Pope was beaten by Gravenberch’s low, slightly deflected shot, from the edge of the area.
Pope could probably count himself slightly fortunate not to have picked the ball out of the net for a second time when Mohamed Salah’s subtly curving cross proved just slightly too clever for a startled looking Ekitiké.
Not that things were exactly going swimmingly for Howe. Dan Burn rightly saw yellow for catching Salah late before a video assistant referee intervention resulted in Gordon being sent off for poleaxing Van Dijk with an unpleasant, unnecessary and utterly brainless tackle from behind.
Given that it involved the boyhood Liverpool fan and former Evertonian lunging into the back of the defender’s standing leg as Van Dijk attempted to clear the ball, Gordon could hardly complain. Significantly, Howe did not look at him as he headed straight down the tunnel.
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His team had arguably paid the price for playing on the edge. Initially all this black-and-white adrenaline had unnerved and unsettled Slot’s side but, not for the first time, Gordon carried things too far and imploded.
Slot had not even emerged from the tunnel when, 23 seconds into the second half, Ekitiké showed Newcastle precisely what they are missing. The Frenchman’s burst beyond Tonali and his pass to the left cued up Cody Gakpo. When the Dutchman’s shot was blocked, Ekitiké reacted first to the rebound, drilling an unstoppable shot past Pope.
Either side of their goals, Liverpool had enjoyed surprisingly few touches in Newcastle’s area but their efficiency when it mattered had hurt Howe’s players.
Not that it was quite over just yet. When Tino Livramento curled a cross into the area, Guimarães capitalised on slapdash defending by Milos Kerkez to head Newcastle’s 10 men right back into things.
For a while Liverpool seemed the team at a numerical disadvantage but then injuries began debilitating Howe’s team. They could certainly have done without losing Tonali, with a nasty looking shoulder injury, before the influential Joelinton limped off as Jacob Ramsey stepped off the bench to make his home debut after a £40m move from Aston Villa.
Ramsey though was not the night’s most influential home substitute. That honour looked like being afforded to Osula. The Denmark Under-21 forward may not be quite the finished article but Osula is at least a proper centre-forward and when Dan Burn overpowered Ibrahima Konaté to meet Pope’s long kick, Osula nipped in, stretched out a boot and equalised.
Unfortunately for Howe a visiting replacement proved an even bigger gamechanger. The game had reached the 100th minute when Ngumoha marked his Premier League debut by adroitly curling a wonderful shot beyond Pope.
