It ended Newcastle United 2 Liverpool 2.
Ahead of each game we ask one of our writers to come up with three positives and three negatives following the match.
An exhilarating match at St James’ Park.
Plenty to talk about after this Premier League game.
United twice taking the lead, only to have to settle for a point in the end.
On this occasion it is David Punton:
POSITIVES
A fitting farewell
There are some things more important than football and the farewell to Kevin Keegan was exactly that.
It was a chance for the St James’ Park crowd to pay a fitting tribute to KK, who is rightly revered by both Newcastle Utd and Liverpool FC.
The displays were immense. The unity of the tribute was brilliant.
Keegan will never be forgotten at Newcastle.
The banner with that quote on brought a tear to the eye.
Reasons to be cheerful
The main positive in the game from Newcastle’s point of view is that there were plenty of positives!
We’ve lost so many key players and a manager who won us a trophy decided he wanted to leave too.
It’s all felt a bit negative, so for the manager and his new team to play like that – against a top team like Liverpool – is a real boost.
The Reds were made to look second best for most of the game and a certain Mr Isak was poor.
Miley and Steur defied their tender years to inject a great showing in the midfield engine room.
Dedic had a solid debut and despite the penalty incident Lewis Hall did well. It was just that one moment at the end that was costly. It’s such a shame but he’s still a key player.
Elanga used his pace to great effect and scored a goal, while Joe Willock proved he’s got plenty still to contribute. The Willock of old, if you like. Suddenly it doesn’t look a good decision to sell him, as he really can put the hard yards in.
Jaissle stated he’d prefer to keep him, but we’ll have to see.
Botman stepped up well in Burn’s absence, shrugging off some poor showings in pre-season.
Proper Wissa
Last season was torture for our current number nine.
He had no pre-season and then got a bad knee injury in the first international break.
Eddie Howe, dare I say, didn’t use Yoane Wissa as much as he should have done last season.
The good news is that he’s still a very good player. He looks in a much better place now.
A role in the leadership group and a new role in the side seems to be just the tonic.
He looks more tuned in now that everyone has a clean slate under Mathias Jaissle.
Goals will surely flow soon. He proved at Brentford that he’s prolific.
NEGATIVES
The hoodoo goes on
The penalty meant that in the Premier League we’ve not beaten Liverpool at St James Park for over ten years.
This was maybe our best opportunity to do so and it went begging. It’s tough to take.
Such fine lines in football. Jacob Murphy does a different throw in and we may well be talking about three points instead of one.
Of course, we did beat the Reds in the 2025 League Cup final but a league win over them remains elusive.
The search goes on.
A few short
It still feels like we need at least another two or three new players.
The club haven’t managed to get Bruno’s replacement in yet, in my opinion. We need a number ten and maybe even a new centre half too.
If that business had been done sooner we’d be a lot happier.
Jaissle clearly knows his onions, they just need to back him with the last few bodies he needs to make a fist of things.
The late late show – again
A big issue all last season was conceding late.
It can happen in football but it seems to happen to us far too much.
Under the new manager I had hoped this might be a thing of the past but it’s gone and occurred right on day one.
Game management surely has to be an area they work on. It’s a bad habit that the manager has to try and eradicate as much as he can with the group.