‘Exceptional’: Liverpool v Newcastle tactical analysis

Liverpool began 2024 in style with this commanding victory over Newcastle United. The visitors — succumbing to a seventh defeat in eight games — were simply unable to stem the waves of Liverpool attacks, which led to chance after chance. For Mo Salah, in his last appearance before joining Egypt for the Africa Cup of Nations, there were two goals, an assist and a missed penalty. How his teammates cope in his absence will be important, if not defining, in the Premier League title race.

Salah demonstrated both his supreme skill and steely nerve to put Newcastle to the sword. Putting aside a first-half penalty miss, he tormented the visitors in the second period, sealing victory by converting from the spot amid the teeming Merseyside rain.

Despite Liverpool controlling much of the game, Newcastle still threatened to take a point. Via a combination of clinical finishing and last-ditch defending, the away side managed to stay in the game until the last minutes. By full-time, however, Liverpool’s intense pressure had proven too much for Eddie Howe’s team to withstand.

How the managers saw it

“The counter-pressing we played today was absolutely exceptional,” said Jürgen Klopp. “In the situations when we were not at 100 per cent, you could immediately see then Newcastle were there. But we made it really tricky for them tonight, and it was a fully deserved three points.”

“We were asked a lot of questions, their movement, their quality,” said Howe. “The majority of time we came up with some really good defensive passages of play, but in those moments we switched off and we’re disappointed.”

Below, our UEFA-licensed experts have picked out three key tactical themes from the game...

Liverpool’s number eights

Liverpool’s familiar 4-3-3 came up against Newcastle’s 4-1-4-1 defensive block for much of this game. In the 4-3-3, the home team’s number eights were notably fluid; their movement, positioning and rotations worked well around the front trio of Mo Salah, Luis Díaz and Darwin Núñez. On the right side, Dominik Szoboszlai’s movement was penetrative in intent. The Hungarian often ran inside Newcastle left-back Dan Burn, then widened if he didn’t receive the ball. This allowed the dangerous Salah to dribble inwards (below).

On Liverpool’s left, a rejuvenated Díaz moved inside much earlier than Salah did on the right (above). This meant the Colombian often received inside, whereas Salah tended to dribble inward. Number eight Curtis Jones made supporting runs around Díaz (above), with right-footed left-back Joe Gomez less of a threat down the line.

As Liverpool created multiple chances from open play, their number eights continued to support around an increasingly narrow front trio. When this front three occupied spaces between and around Newcastle’s two central defenders, Szoboszlai and Jones would look to support from the outer spaces (below).

In the first half, Liverpool were extremely effective at playing through the middle and into their narrow front line. The number eights offered secondary support via delayed forward runs, helping create lots of final-third entries despite the lack of a first-half opening goal.

Liverpool’s pressing

Liverpool also created chances through their aggressive pressing of Newcastle’s deeper build-up. Díaz often jumped to Newcastle’s right centre-back, with either Salah or Szoboszlai pressing the away side’s left centre-back (below). Central forward Núñez helped screen central passes, but also jumped forward when required.

As well as this organised press, Liverpool’s counter-pressing — from their covering central midfielders or defenders stepping up — was important in limiting Newcastle in the first 30 minutes. One such example led to the 22nd-minute penalty that Salah failed to convert.

Newcastle did find a way to break Liverpool’s press, when their central-midfield trio condensed and dropped much deeper to support closer to the centre-backs (below). This narrowed Liverpool’s press more, allowing Newcastle to play over the home side’s covering, deeper midfielders and encroaching defenders. In doing so, they started to find their wingers, from where they could break on Liverpool’s remaining defenders.

This adaptation helped to stem some of Liverpool’s chance creation, via a significant reduction in the home team’s high regains. It also helped Newcastle break into the final third and create dangerous moments — if not necessarily clear chances — of their own.

Front-three combinations

Throughout the second half, Liverpool created a number of chances, as their front line stretched and isolated Newcastle’s back four. Both Liverpool wingers held the width for longer, providing more 1v1 moments (below). Salah especially benefited from Liverpool’s attempted overloading of the central-midfield spaces.

With their number eights central for longer — and Trent Alexander-Arnold joining from full-back, dragging Joelinton inside (above) — Salah had more space to attack 1v1. His dribbling from the right was key as Liverpool’s front-line combinations — and Núñez’s movements — forced Martin Dúbravka into a high number of saves.

Howe responded by withdrawing Lewis Miley from central midfield, moving Joelinton inside and placing Miguel Almirón wide right (below). Anthony Gordon moved to the left side, where he quickly posed an attacking threat to Alexander-Arnold. Previously, Joelinton’s dribbling hadn’t caused too many issues on this side. Gordon provided an immediate return, though, sliding Alexander Isak in to equalise from Newcastle’s first chance of the evening.

Despite this equaliser — and Newcastle getting a second from an 81st-minute corner — Liverpool were relentless. They created a remarkable number of chances, largely through Salah’s 1v1 play (below), but also through improved forward runs and quick, clever combinations around the visitors’ back four.

Substitutes Cody Gakpo and Diogo Jota did well after replacing Núñez and Díaz, as Salah continued to drive in from the right (above). Liverpool could have scored even more, with Klopp’s table-toppers recording a Premier League record high of 7.71 xG for a single game.

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