Key events
Louise Taylor was at St James’ Park tonight. Here’s her verdict. Thanks for reading this MBM.
As for the Alexander Isak situation, unsurprisingly there’s no update, but Howe is asked whether there will be any incoming transfers: “We hope we can bring players into the club … we’ve been trying all through the window … especially in the forward positions … so we’ll continue right to the end.
Howe then reports that both Sandro Tonali and Joelinton could be “out for a while”. He also addresses the red card incident by saying “there was no intent” by Anthony Gordon as he tackled Virgil van Dijk and that “he was trying to pull out of the tackle”. He continues: “Both teams were on the edge, Liverpool as well as us … it wasn’t an easy game to manage from the referee’s perspective.”
Eddie Howe’s turn to speak to Sky Sports. “A bruising game for us … so many different emotions … really proud of the performance … really pleased with how we played … great intensity … the following of the game plan and then adapting … with ten men we were the better team in the second half as well as the first … so to come away with nothing, and injuries and suspensions and concussions, it’s a pretty bad day.”
Rio Ngumoha has become the fourth youngest scorer in Premier League history.
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James Vaughan (Everton, April 2005): 16 years and 270 days
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James Milner (Leeds, December 2002): 16 years and 356 days
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Wayne Rooney (Everton, October 2002): 16 years and 360 days
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Rio Ngumoha (Liverpool, August 2025): 16 years and 361 days
As for the Premier League table … for what it’s worth after two rounds of games … Liverpool join north London’s finest as the only teams with a 100 percent record, while Newcastle have just one point to show for a couple of performances that – and this isn’t stretching a point particularly far – could easily have earned them six. The small margins.
Slot continues: “We didn’t play well enough with the ball … we tried to force something … it never led to anything … I don’t think there was so much open play to be played … [the winner] was a great attack … for the first time we went from right to the middle to the left … a great goal for a 16-year-old … what I liked most from our players is after the 2-2 we had to defend five set pieces, three throw-ins and two free kicks … maybe it wasn’t the best game in terms of tactics or playing football but I think every fan around the world enjoyed watching this game of football … also because their fans were amazing in terms of the help they gave the home team.”
Arne Slot talks to Sky. “I heard you correctly, you said football match?! … I’m not too sure I saw a football match today … set piece after set piece, long throw … it didn’t have a lot to do with tactics … but I liked a lot how we stood strong … the first half hour … we didn’t collapse at all … them going down to ten men you would expect is a big plus for us … but when the goalkeeper takes every free kick there is not so much help when you are one player up … and that’s why it was so difficult to get the 0-2 over the line.”
Van Dijk is then asked about the Anthony Gordon incident … “I said to him, if that’s not a sending off, then I don’t really understand football … it was really strange that the [referee] has to go to the monitor … unfortunately these things happen in football … if he meant it or not, it happened.”
… and then Rio Ngumoha’s stunning intervention. “It’s a dream debut for him … that whole attack was quite good … Harvey started it on the right-hand side … the dummy … it was a perfect attack … we stayed calm to try to find a solution to score a goal and we did it … I’m very, very pleased for Rio … he has to keep working hard and stay humble … but he also has to enjoy it because these nights you can’t take for granted … I’m sure with the players we have, he will be back in training tomorrow and having a hard session.”
Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk speaks to Sky Sports. “We all know it’s a difficult place to come … there was a lot of oil on the fire this week … especially to get Newcastle fired up … it was expected … we’re disappointed to concede two from set pieces … that shouldn’t happen … overall a great three points … move on … focus on the next one … free kicks, corner kicks, the pressure gets on … they had the quality … look at the traditional top-six here last year … only a couple managed to beat them … it’s always a difficult place to come … I enjoy this type of atmosphere as well so I was really looking forward to it … but we could have made it a little bit easier if we don’t concede those set pieces … gave them a boost … the fans behind them of course.”
The xG tonight, without comment: Newcastle United 0.93, Liverpool 0.70.
It’s difficult to know exactly how to parse all of that. There are quite a few stunned faces in the St James’ Park crowd, struggling to process the drama that’s just unfolded. Newcastle steamrollered Liverpool for the first 34 minutes, when a home win looked inevitable. Then they suddenly unravelled when Ryan Gravenberch scored and Anthony Gordon suffered a rush of the hottest blood to the noggin, scything into Virgil van Dijk and getting himself deservedly sent off. And it looked done and dusted when former Newcastle transfer target Hugo Ekitike scored another for Liverpool, 23 seconds into the second half. But the ten men of Newcastle dug in, and when Bruno Guimaraes powered in a header to reduce the arrears, the home side reasserted themselves. The pressure they bravely applied on Liverpool finally told when William Osula equalised with a couple of minutes of normal time to go, and there only looked one winner during added time, the Toon pinning the champions back. But then Liverpool played some patient triangles down the right, Mo Salah crossed, Dominik Szoboszlai dummied, and Rio Ngumoha coolly slotted himself into the Liverpool record book. Newcastle will wonder how they lost; Liverpool will wonder how they got into a position where they needed a last-minute stunner from a teenager to win; both things can be true at once. All we know for sure is that Newcastle United and Liverpool: they always deliver.
Ignoring all of that nonsense, Rio Ngumoha has just scored an injury-time winner for Liverpool at the age of 16 years and 361 days. That beats the club record set by Ben Woodburn, who notched against Leeds United aged 17 years and 45 days in 2016. He’s quite a long way beyond delighted, his wide smile lighting up the northern sky. What an impact he made. That was an exquisite finish at the end of a wonderful team move, during the last knockings of a quite sensational match. Just outstanding.
In the immediate aftermath, Dan Burn loses his temper with Alisson. Not sure what’s gone on there. The sting of that late Liverpool winner, perhaps. He briefly considers taking a handful of Alisson’s shirt, but thinks better of it. Eventually the pair are separated, and everything calms down.
FULL TIME: Newcastle United 2-3 Liverpool
Another game between Newcastle and Liverpool, another wild classic.
90 min +13: Hall curls the corner in. Liverpool clear. Guimaraes and Elanga can’t keep the ball in on the left flank. Before the throw can be taken, Guimaraes and Gravenberch have a discussion. The referee separates them.
90 min +12: Newcastle restart, and Burn wins a free kick out on the left, battling with Chiesa. The free kick’s looped into the mixer, and Alisson is forced to turn behind for a corner. They couldn’t, could they?!
90 min +11: Celebratory bedlam on the Liverpool bench. What drama here!
GOAL! Newcastle United 2-3 Liverpool (Ngumoha 90+10)
Three days short of his 17th birthday, Rio Ngumoha scores a pearler! Chiesa slips a pass down the inside-right channel. Salah rolls across to Szoboszlai on the penalty spot. Szoboszlai dummies, and Ngumoha is free! He opens his body and powers a curler into the right-hand side of the net! Unstoppable! Pope utterly rooted to the spot!
90 min +9: In the dugout, Arne Slot looks grim-faced. His team have been second-best for the majority of this match … and yet should have seen out a win against depleted opponents. Strange game, football, sometimes.
90 min +7: Liverpool make a double change, replacing Gakpo and Jones with Elliott and the 16-year-old Ngumoha. “While it would be trolling to argue that Liverpool sold their best defender to Real Madrid this summer, I do think that without Trent, the defence work is harder,” writes Kári Tulinius. “Having someone who can let fly with inch-perfect throughballs from his own penalty box eases the attacking pressure.”
90 min +6: Van Dijk heads clear, then Osula fouls, releasing the pressure on the visitors, who surely must want to get out of Dodge without further bother.
90 min +4: Livramento and Osula continue to cause all sorts of bother down the right. They combine to win yet another corner. Liverpool can’t get out, and haven’t been able to for a while. They’ve got an extra man!
90 min +3: Chiesa, of all people, head clear. But the ball’s going to come straight back at Liverpool. If you’d just turned up, you’d imagine it’s Liverpool down to ten. Newcastle have been immense since making it 1-2. They were immense before it was 1-0 as well.
90 min +2: Livramento throws long from the right. Burn flicks on, forcing Alisson to punch clear in a panic. Guimaraes then wins a corner on the left. Liverpool suddenly hanging on!
90 min +1: Van Dijk heads the corner clear. What on earth does this game have left?! It’s got something left, hasn’t it?
90 min: Elanga bursts clear down the right and wins a corner off Kerkez. St James’ Park is rocking now. The fans sense a winner for the ten men! There will be at least 11 (eleven) minutes of stoppage time!
89 min: Kerkez was outfought for Newcastle’s first goal; Konate for their second. Liverpool won’t be retaining their title defending like they’ve defended in their opening two matches.
GOAL! Newcastle United 2-2 Liverpool (Osula 88)
… and from the resulting free kick, in the centre circle, Newcastle equalise! A long ball launched down the middle by Pope. Burn outmuscles Konate just outside the box. The ball bounces over them both, then Osula nips past Gravenberch to prod the ball past Alisson and into the net!
87 min: Bradley goes into the book for nibbling too enthusiastically at the heel of Guimaraes.
86 min: Liverpool ping it around the back awhile, as the world turns.
84 min: Thiaw’s first act in a Newcastle shirt is a poor clearance straight to Chiesa, who advances on the box. Thiaw is thankful Burn comes racing back to dispossess Chiesa from behind. That’s a fine challenge.
82 min: Newcastle make a concussion substitution, replacing the stricken Schar with new-boy Thiaw.
81 min: The game restarts. Guimaraes clatters into Chiesa, front on, a little swipe on the follow-through, and is slightly fortunate not to pick up a second card. He’s treading a fine line.
80 min: While the game is paused, Liverpool replace Wirtz and Ekitike with Bradley and Chiesa.
79 min: Thankfully Schar is sitting up, but he’s being treated for a cut to the back of his head.
77 min: Schar goes up with Van Dijk and Guimaraes, then goes down and stays down, stock still. A head injury. The referee waves play on. Eventually the whistle goes to stop play. Schar looks very groggy indeed, and the physio takes great care to cradle his neck as he comes on.
76 min: After a long period of admin, Joelinton, Barnes and Trippier make way for Hall, Ramsey and Osula.
75 min: Joelinton can’t continue. He may have opened up a joint in over-stretching. He hobbles off, and will be one of three Newcastle players to be replaced.
73 min: Joelinton stretches for a ball in midfield, hoping to get in ahead of Gravenberch. He does that, but goes down in a heap. He looks in some discomfort, holding the top of his thigh. On comes the physio.
72 min: Liverpool play some patient keep-ball in the centre of the park. St James’ Park falls quiet as a result. Some smart game-management here. Liverpool needed it.
70 min: Some space for Salah on the right. He cuts infield and looks for Gakpo at the far stick, but gets the cross all wrong. Goal kick.
68 min: A rare Liverpool attack. Gakpo has the opportunity to feed Kerkez on the underlap, but tries to find Salah at the far stick instead. Livramento ushers the ball out for a goal kick.
67 min: The ten men of Newcastle have enjoyed 90 percent of possession during the last five minutes.
66 min: Tonali’s shoulder continues to trouble him, and he’s forced to make way for Miley. When the game restarts, Schar twists Kerkez inside and out down the right, and fires into the six-yard box. Szoboszlai flips clear just in time, with black and white shirts waiting to prod home.
65 min: Yet another Livramento throw from the left. Schar goes down upon feeling Gakpo’s hand on the back of his shirt. Not enough contact, and play continues.
