Liverpool's Familiar Flaws Resurface in Draw Against Newcastle

Pat Nevin didn’t need a telestrator to make his point on BBC Radio 5 Live. “You can see the weaknesses that Liverpool had last season have not gone away,” he said. Ninety minutes at St James’ Park underlined exactly that – and then some.

Andoni Iraola’s big tactical call was to drop Florian Wirtz into the pocket ahead of a midfield pivot of Ryan Gravenberch and Dominik Szoboszlai. On paper, it offered craft and control. On grass, it exposed Liverpool’s soft centre in brutal fashion.

Newcastle, stripped of their most dangerous forward and two best midfielders over the summer, should not have been able to slice through Liverpool with such ease. They did. Repeatedly.

Gravenberch and Szoboszlai are not bad players. Far from it. But everyone has seen enough of them to know where their instincts lie: forward, not back. Asking that pair to shield a back four is like asking two No 10s to play as bouncers. The evidence arrived inside five minutes.

Both midfielders were in Newcastle’s box when the hosts broke. One swift, direct counter, Liverpool’s shape in pieces, and Anthony Elanga was racing away to open the scoring. It was the exact type of transition goal that haunted Liverpool last season. The kind that leaves defenders screaming at the midfielders who are still jogging back into the TV frame.

The pattern didn’t change. When Cody Gakpo dragged Liverpool level, there was a sense they might finally exert some control. Instead, chaos returned almost instantly. Just 176 seconds after the equaliser, Newcastle were back in front, Joe Willock punishing more slack positioning and slow reactions from the visitors.

That was the cue for Iraola to reach for the bench. Wirtz and Ngumoha made way for Alexis Mac Allister and summer signing Victor Munoz in a double change that said plenty about the manager’s patience levels.

Munoz injected what Liverpool had been missing: direct running and jeopardy. His positivity earned the penalty that Szoboszlai converted to salvage a draw. It was an encouraging cameo, a rare bright spark. But the switch also cast an unforgiving light on those he replaced.

Ngumoha, pushed into the thankless role of Mohamed Salah’s stand-in on the right, was always fighting an uphill battle. He prefers the left, he is still learning the league, and he was effectively told to mimic one of the most prolific wide forwards in Premier League history. Sympathy is easy there.

Wirtz is a different story.

Liverpool fans have been patient with the £100 million Germany international. Very patient. Jamie Carragher, writing in the Daily Telegraph before the season, challenged him to show he is more than just “neat and tidy” on the ball. This was his chance to answer that accusation. Instead, he reinforced it.

Yes, Wirtz managed one of Liverpool’s few shots on target in the first half. But the broader question remains unanswered: where does he actually fit in this team?

On the left wing he has often looked lost, drifting, waiting for the game to come to him. In the central role that is supposed to be his natural habitat, he again failed to grab hold of a contest crying out for a marquee player to bend it to his will. This was the kind of match he was signed to illuminate. He barely flickered.

He is not alone in that regard. Alexander Isak endured a miserable return to Newcastle. The Swede saw little of the ball, which might have excused him on another day, but when his big moment did arrive midway through the second half, he lashed it high into the stands. The home crowd roared with laughter. Liverpool’s away end did not.

Isak’s anonymity up front and Wirtz’s uncertainty behind him form a worrying double act for Liverpool. These were the nine-figure bets, the headline investments meant to haul the club back to the sharp end of the Champions League. A year on, both are labouring against a Newcastle side stripped of star power.

And the problems don’t stop there. Issues are scattered across this Liverpool side. Milos Kerkez and Jeremie Frimpong endured torrid evenings on Tyneside, their struggles adding to a performance that looked disjointed in every department. For a club that limped to fifth last season without a trophy, the margin for error is thin. The need for more reinforcements before the transfer window closes feels anything but optional.

Szoboszlai, to his credit, tried to steer the narrative towards the positives after the game. Twice coming from behind to take a point away from home is not nothing, especially for a squad still carrying the scars of last season and adjusting to Iraola’s demands. The new manager’s reign is in its infancy. There is time, on paper at least.

But nights like this linger.

Liverpool did not just fail to solve last season’s problems at St James’ Park. They watched two of the players signed to fix them – Wirtz and Isak – drift further into the spotlight for all the wrong reasons. How long can a club with Liverpool’s ambitions afford to wait for its expensive solutions to start looking like answers?