Liverpool's Flaws Persist in Opening Night Draw Against Newcastle
Pat Nevin’s assessment on BBC Radio 5 Live cut straight through the opening-night noise: the flaws that dragged Liverpool down last season are still there. If anything, Andoni Iraola’s first big tactical call only highlighted them.
Soft centre, same story
Iraola pushed Florian Wirtz into a central role, just ahead of a midfield pairing of Ryan Gravenberch and Dominik Szoboszlai. On paper, it looked adventurous. On the pitch, it looked reckless.
Newcastle, stripped of their most dangerous forward and their two best midfielders over the summer, should not have been able to slice through Liverpool at will. Yet they did, repeatedly. The gaps between Liverpool’s lines were yawning, the protection in front of the back four almost non-existent.
Gravenberch and Szoboszlai are talented, technically sharp, and brave on the ball. They are also far happier running towards the opposition goal than their own. That imbalance was brutally exposed inside five minutes at St. James’ Park. Both midfielders surged into the Newcastle box, Liverpool lost the ball, and Anthony Elanga tore away on the counter to score. It was a carbon-copy concession, the sort of transition goal Liverpool gave up all last season.
The pattern didn’t change. Even when Cody Gakpo dragged Liverpool level, the sense of control never followed. Just 176 seconds after the equaliser, Newcastle were back in front. Joe Willock punished more slack positioning and slow reactions from the visitors, who looked permanently one pass away from being opened up again.
Wirtz drifts, questions grow
That chaos behind him did Wirtz no favours, but it did not excuse him either. Liverpool supporters have been patient with the £100 million signing, waiting for the night he seizes a game and bends it to his will. This was not that night.
Jamie Carragher, writing in the Daily Telegraph before the season kicked off, challenged Wirtz to prove he is more than “neat and tidy”. Against Newcastle, he fell well short. He managed one of Liverpool’s few efforts on target in the first half, but the broader problem remains: where does he actually fit?
He has looked uncomfortable and peripheral on the left wing. Here, in the role that is supposed to suit him best, he again struggled to influence proceedings. The game drifted around him. For a player signed to be a difference-maker in the biggest competitions, failing to impose himself against a depleted Newcastle side is a worrying sign.
So when Iraola reacted to Liverpool going behind for a second time, Wirtz was one of the first sacrificed. Alexis Mac Allister came on for him, while Victor Munoz replaced Michael Ngumoha.
A harsh stage for the new faces
Munoz, at least, made an immediate impact. Direct, sharp, and willing to run at defenders, he forced the penalty that Szoboszlai converted to salvage a point. That aggression was exactly what Liverpool had been missing between the lines.
Ngumoha’s night was far less forgiving. Thrown in on the right to cover for Mohamed Salah, despite preferring the left, he was handed one of the most unforgiving assignments in English football. It felt like a thankless cameo rather than a genuine opportunity to shine.
But sympathy in the away end was in short supply for Wirtz. This was supposed to be the season he answered the doubts. Instead, he walked off with more of them swirling around him.
Isak misfires, alarm bells ring
On the other side, Alexander Isak offered Liverpool no comfort either. Back at Newcastle and facing his former club, the Swede endured a miserable outing. Service to him was limited, but when a clear chance finally fell his way midway through the second half, he lashed it high into the stands. The home crowd roared with laughter. Liverpool’s did not.
Between Isak’s anonymity and Wirtz’s ineffectiveness, the mood around two of Liverpool’s flagship signings is darkening. These were the players earmarked to drag the club deep into the Champions League and back into the title conversation. Instead, a year on, they are labouring against mid-table Premier League opposition.
And it is not just them. Milos Kerkez and Jeremie Frimpong endured torrid evenings on Tyneside. The defensive structure wobbled. The midfield balance looked wrong. Every department showed signs of strain.
Time, but not endless
There is context. The season has barely started. Iraola is only just beginning to stamp his ideas on a squad that limped to fifth last term without a trophy and without conviction. Change at this scale never happens overnight.
Szoboszlai was right to talk about positives after the game. Twice Liverpool fell behind. Twice they clawed their way back. There is resilience there, a refusal to fold that managers cling to in early August.
But strip away the late penalty and the comeback narrative, and the picture is stark. Liverpool still look too easy to play through. Their most expensive attackers still look miles from the level their price tags demand. The transfer window is still open, and the need for further investment is obvious.
Liverpool did not spend nine-figure sums on Wirtz and Isak to be passengers in nights like this. They were bought to solve problems, to lift standards, to decide tight games. If they cannot do that soon, the questions will only get louder – and so will the doubts about where this team is really heading.
