Jonjo Shelvey started the night as Newcastle’s hero, but it was his mistake that handed Liverpool the lead.
The Toon midfielder opened the scoring after seven minutes, with a wonderful long range effort leaving Alisson helpless. It was Shelvey’s first goal of the season, and the perfect start to an incredibly difficult fixture.
However, Newcastle’s joy soon turned to despair.
Liverpool equalised in controversial fashion, with Mike Dean failing to stop play despite Isaac Hayden clearly having a head injury in the box.
But while the Magpies were annoyed with Dean for Liverpool’s opener, their second was all their own fault.
Joelinton was pressed high by the Reds, scrambling a pass into the path of Shelvey. The 29-year-old then played a blind ball towards the Newcastle goal, and into the path of Sadio Mane. His effort was saved, but Mo Salah smashed in the rebound.
It was a catastrophic error by Shelvey, and the England international has apologised to the fans for his mistake.
What has Jonjo Shelvey said?
“The second goal, I’ll hold my hand up,” Shelvey told the club’s official website.
“It was a terrible pass and I apologise to our fans for such a stupid goal to concede.”
Another mistake costs Newcastle
We can’t afford to keep making so many individual errors. It’s hard enough as it is without making our own mistakes.
Time after time this season, we’ve shot ourselves in the foot.
Liverpool was no different. We handed them the lead just moments after they had equalised.
Howe needs to find a way of cutting out these individual errors. Whether it’s down to concentration or mentality, something needs to change.
Shelvey is absolutely right – it was such a stupid goal to concede. But concede it we did.
Hopefully we don’t make the same mistakes on Sunday when we face Premier League champions Manchester City…
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