Liverpool’s genius defied Newcastle’s pack-hunters - but win exposed flaws

LIVERPOOL escaped St James' Park with all three points - but Newcastle exposed a major flaw in their game.

Teenager Rio Ngumoha was the hero as he popped up in the dying seconds to snatch victory for the Reds.

13 Rio Ngumoha snatched an unlikely win for Liverpool at St. James' Park Credit: Getty

13 SunSport's tactical expert Dean Scoggins (right) broke down the game

And although Arne Slot 's side scored three times, they struggled to deal with the intensity and tactics deployed by Newcastle .

Key men Mo Salah and Florian Wirtz were left isolated at times, with the Magpies' press forcing Liverpool to go long, even when they had a man advantage following Anthony Gordon 's red card.

Here, SunSport’s tactical guru Dean Scoggins delivers the lowdown on how the champions snatched the win despite being second best for much of the match...

What we've talked about previously with Newcastle against teams like Liverpool is they make the pitch massive.

When the goalkeeper of the opposition has the ball or the full-backs have the ball they're not afraid to drop.

And that means there's this enormous space in midfield where they've got Joelinton , Bruno Guimaraes and Sandro Tonali who will do the doggy runs and fly up and down to get the ball and the opposition midfield don't know whether to drop deep to get the ball or it goes long.

So you create that void where Dan Burn , Fabian Schar, the full-backs can attack the ball and hit the line - Salah is basically against Burn in the air in that setting.

Newcastle obviously set up in a 4-5-1 shape when they're out of possession, when they're in a in a mid block.

So they've not dropped to the edge of their box in a low block because when they press they press with Gordon .

Then Harvey Barnes and Anthony Elanga drop in and it forms that five across the shape. And what they're so clever at is they squeeze the game up.

So they're not just sitting in a 4-5-1, they edge it up the pitch and then that creates that gap between the defence and them.

And what Liverpool didn't do - Wirtz in particular - they didn't get in that line in between the midfield and attack to then go and get the ball in the pocket. And Salah didn't do that either. It was isolated out wide.

So not only were Newcastle pressing like hell up front, whenever Liverpool did get the ball in the middle of the field, they were standing there.

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13 Newcastle's 4-5-1 formation helped them squeeze Liverpool

13 The mid-block reduced space for Liverpool's midfielders

13 The Reds were forced to play long

Newcastle, right, they hunt in packs.

And then you've got the work rate of Guimaraes, Tonali and Joelinton and then they bring on Lewis Miley who does the same thing.

Every substitution they made, Jacob Ramsey I thought was excellent when he came on, did the same thing, hunting the ball.

But what you've got to do against that is be brave.

You've got to sucker them in into a midfield place and make everybody come into you on the ball and then pop it off because then you've got three in or two round you which means you've got a man over everywhere else.

And bearing in mind you're playing against 10 anyway.

13 Newcastle hunted in packs

13 Their pressing was effective in shutting down the opposition

So it was 11 v10 and you've got to sucker someone in. So the move that Liverpool played for the winning goal and let's bear in mind 97, 98 minutes gone, crazy night and they're thinking we're going to do well to get out of here with a draw.

To have the composure and it happened three times in about four minutes where Ibrahima Konate was the spare man on the ball on the halfway line and he actually puts his foot on top of the ball and Liverpool get set in a shape.

So they get that four-man attacking shape, they get two players in between the lines that I talked about in the first half they didn't do where Wirtz didn't get in that position and then they manufacture it.

They play it into Gravenberch and into the midfield and then they pop it out wide and then it's a little bounce pass in between that means it then goes to Salah in that dangerous position in the line and Newcastle you almost can't fault their effort but they do get sucked in to that position.

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13 Ibrahima Konate started the move for Liverpool's winner

13 Liverpool finally managed to work it out wide with some snap passing

13 Rio Ngumoha was in acres of space to fire in at the back post

They've got a bit of a balance problem Liverpool. Against Bournemouth they were missing Gravenberch and in this game they were missing Mac Allister.

And then obviously they were playing without a natural right-back so there are injuries there and they're trying to find somewhere where they can fit Wirtz into this formation.

Virgil van Dijk said afterwards they need more games and they definitely do and let's be honest they've got away with a couple so far.

It could easily have gone the other way against Bournemouth when the tide changed with Semenyo's two goals and it could easily have ended 3-2 Newcastle against 10 men.

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