Liverpool's Character Shines in Draw Against Newcastle

At St James’ Park last August, Liverpool walked out with bedlam ringing in their ears and Rio Ngumoha’s 100th‑minute winner etched into the away end’s memory. Same fixture, same late drama this time. Very different feeling.

Dominik Szoboszlai’s 99th‑minute penalty didn’t spark delirium. It felt like a long exhale. A 2-2 draw salvaged, a defeat dodged, and a performance that left as many doubts as it did positives.

Iraola’s Liverpool: Spirit, but short on substance

Andoni Iraola stood on the touchline as the final whistle went knowing two things could be true at once. His team had shown serious character. His team had also exposed how thin this Liverpool squad looks.

"It's probably not the result you want when you come in before the game but we definitely deserve this point and even more," he told BBC Radio 5 Live. He was right about the fight, at least. Liverpool trailed twice in a raucous, unforgiving St James’ Park and still found a way back.

"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." The late rescue job will help the mood on Merseyside. It will not hide the problems.

A loss would have been Liverpool’s first opening‑weekend defeat since 2012-13. Avoiding that matters. Yet the manner of the display underlined why Iraola wants – and needs – more depth before the window closes.

Former Scotland winger Pat Nevin did not dress it up on 5 Live. "You're expecting Liverpool to get top four this season at least but they didn't look like a top four team today," he said. His verdict cut to the core: "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."

Wirtz and Isak under the microscope

All eyes were always going to fall on Liverpool’s big‑money pair. Florian Wirtz, the new creative hub. Alexander Isak, the striker prised away from Newcastle in a drawn-out saga last September and greeted with a wall of boos every time he touched the ball.

Wirtz started brightly enough, drifting into pockets, demanding the ball. Then Newcastle went 2-1 up, the game turned, and he was gone just after the hour. Influence faded, legs replaced.

Isak had 28 touches, burned with intent, and still walked off frustrated. He squandered a golden chance in the second half – the sort he buried routinely in black and white. On a night when the hostility in the stands seemed to fuel him, his finishing deserted him.

Both arrived for nine-figure fees last summer. Both know this output is nowhere near enough. Their understanding, their end product, their ability to grab a game like this by the throat – all of it has to grow, and quickly.

Right now, this Liverpool side poses more questions than answers.

The Gakpo question and a thin bench

One of the biggest questions hangs over Cody Gakpo. His future could define Liverpool’s final week of the window.

If two more attacking players arrive, Gakpo may be the one to make way. The club have been linked with Paris St‑Germain’s Bradley Barcola and Ibrahim Mbaye and have already seen two bids rejected for Brighton’s Yankuba Minteh.

The irony? At St James’ Park, Gakpo was Liverpool’s best player. He took his goal superbly, carrying the attack when others drifted. On this evidence, moving him on would be a serious gamble.

There was encouragement elsewhere in attack. Spanish forward Victor Munoz, making his Liverpool debut from the bench, injected urgency and direct running. He won the late penalty, driving into the box after replacing Ngumoha.

That substitution said plenty about Ngumoha’s afternoon. Hero here last season, anonymous on the right this time. The teenager, 18 next week, has grown up playing from the left. On the opposite flank, he never got going.

Iraola wants his wingers to be two‑footed threats, capable of operating on either side. Whether he persists with Ngumoha’s role on the right once reinforcements arrive is another matter.

What is not in doubt is that he needs more options. When Munoz and Alexis Mac Allister came on in the 63rd minute, Iraola’s remaining bench read: Giorgi Mamardashvili, Ronald Araujo, Wataru Endo, Kostas Tsimikas, Trey Nyoni, James McConnell and Lewis Koumas. Plenty of promise. Not a lot of proven, game‑changing firepower.

Exposed on the break, light in midfield

The issues were not confined to the front line. Defensively, Liverpool wobbled.

Milos Kerkez and Jeremie Frimpong both endured difficult games at full-back. Newcastle repeatedly sprung forward into the spaces behind them, and Liverpool were punished on the counter for both goals.

The absence of a specialist defensive midfielder loomed large. Transitions hurt. Second balls went missing. When Joe Willock fired Newcastle 2-1 up, Iraola’s response was telling: he dropped Mac Allister into a deeper role, just ahead of the back four, to try to restore control.

The numbers back up the concern. Since the start of last season, no Premier League side has conceded more goals from fast breaks in all competitions than Liverpool – nine. That is not an accident. It is a pattern.

For a coach who values intensity and compactness, that will sting.

A platform, not a finished product

Iraola prefers to debrief the day after a match. He will sit down with the footage and see a team that ran, chased, and refused to fold. He will also see a structure that still needs work.

"I've liked a lot of the things I've seen from the team," he said. "There's definitely things to improve like the goals but I've seen a lot of things I've liked from the team. I've liked the energy, especially the players coming from the bench. I think we finished the game quite strong physically."

Szoboszlai echoed that defiance on Sky Sports. "We will never give up. I can guarantee you that," he said. "We have to fight every time - all day long during the 90 minutes. Everybody who came off the bench also made an impact as well. We need the whole squad and we need to be ready."

Desire is not the problem. Not here, not on Tyneside, not with this group.

The problem is whether that desire is backed by enough quality and enough bodies to carry Liverpool through a long, unforgiving season.