00:00Yeah, inside the bowels of St James' Park, where Newcastle United have been beaten 3-2 by Liverpool tonight.
00:09I'm sure you've all seen the game, but what a game of football it was.
00:13Pure Premier League drama, pure Premier League entertainment, and forget all the narratives surrounding the game.
00:20The 90 minutes, or 101 minutes, as we unfortunately have to talk about, were just brilliant, really, in terms of a neutral watch in the game from a Newcastle point of view.
00:34So, so frustrating, because just how good were Newcastle United tonight, bar 10 minutes really of madness either side of half-time.
00:44They dominated Liverpool, really, and to not come away with anything from this game is just so unfortunate and so disappointing for them.
00:55Because, look, as expected, atmosphere, absolutely electric tonight.
01:00Newcastle's performance then matched that.
01:02Just couldn't, in the first half, really find that cutting edge in front of goals.
01:08Similar to Aston Villa last week, probably played a bit better than they did at Villa last week.
01:13Certainly, certainly, in the first half, and then just couldn't find that goal.
01:17Ryan Graham from Birch, then Liverpool's second shot of the game, second shot on goal in the game.
01:23Finds the bottom left corner from 20-25 yards.
01:28Decent finish.
01:29Then, the moment that possibly cost Newcastle, although the second half performance didn't really suggest that,
01:38because they were brilliant with 10 men.
01:40And it was Anthony Gordon, again, a moment of madness from him, who was, look, he was leading the line as well as he could.
01:46He was linking play up well.
01:48He was making good runs.
01:50He had two headers that sailed narrowly over the bar.
01:53Doing well.
01:54And then, I think he just let the occasion get to him.
01:56He just lunges in on Virgil van Dijk, right down his calf, studs up, and initially gets a yellow card.
02:03But VAR intervenes, overturns the decision, and straight red for him.
02:08He now misses Newcastle's makeshift striker, in Alexander Isak's absence.
02:13It took me two minutes to say his name.
02:15Now misses the next three games, and Newcastle heading to Leeds without a recognised, established striker.
02:23Or so we thought, anyway.
02:24Because then second half starts, and within 20 seconds of the second half, Newcastle are trailing Hugo Ekotige.
02:32Great finish.
02:33You can see why Newcastle were so keen on Hugo Ekotige.
02:37And Eddie Howe spoke about him in his pre-match press conference, saying, look, it's well documented how much we like Hugo Ekotige.
02:43Again, a good finish from him, isn't it?
02:45A finish like a striker who should have been playing for Newcastle United.
02:51Great first-time finish.
02:52And then Newcastle have a mountain to climb.
02:54Ten men, two goals down against Liverpool.
02:57You think it's just going to be one of those right-off evenings.
03:00But I'd say I'll pick out one man, Bruno Gimeraes, the captain, led by example.
03:07If he first off from him, I thought he was decent without being brilliant, and other players probably outshone him.
03:13Second half, he was immense.
03:15He grabbed the game.
03:17You could see it happening.
03:18He grabbed the game by the scruff of its neck.
03:21He won a head-eye.
03:22He had no right to win.
03:24Puts Newcastle back into it.
03:25And then in the ascendancy, pushing for an equaliser, hit by a few blows.
03:31Joe Linton, Sandro Tonali, Famicet, all going off.
03:35Jacob Ramsey came on and looked lively, looked bright.
03:37Lewis Hall comes on.
03:38Great to see him back, showing he hasn't really missed a beat, despite so.
03:43Long out with his injury.
03:46And then the man of the moment, or who should have been the man of the moment, it was Willis Sula comes on.
03:54Again, looked like it was going to be one of those clumsy Willis Sula cameo appearances.
03:59He concedes a few fouls.
04:03Not really getting the ball out from under his feet.
04:07But then long kick forward, Nick Pope.
04:10Flick on of sorts from Dan Byrne.
04:13And then brave finish from Willis Sula makes it 2-2.
04:16Heading into stoppage time.
04:18And from there, you look, bloody hell.
04:19Newcastle have done brilliantly and get what they deserve to get a point from this game.
04:25But then 11 minutes of added time go up.
04:28And the Newcastle fans actually almost cheer it.
04:32Because Newcastle are in their ascendancy at that point.
04:35But 11 minutes just feels a little bit too long.
04:39And it indeed did prove too long.
04:40Newcastle actually pushed probably the first five minutes of the second half for that winning goal.
04:45And then Liverpool just got a little foothold in the game.
04:48A couple of chances.
04:50And then in the 100th minute of the game, 16-year-old substitute Rio Ngamora pops up.
04:59It's a good first-time finish for him.
05:01Should Nick Pope do better?
05:02He's been rooted to his spot for two of the goals tonight.
05:05But he ultimately grabs the headlines on what was a Premier League clash.
05:11Another brilliant Premier League clash between these two sides.
05:14And I think if there's one thing, I'd love to mention his name too much.
05:20But I was Alexander Ishak tonight.
05:22I'd be absolutely embarrassed to have seen your so-called teammates put in such a valiant effort.
05:27Such a good performance.
05:29And all the need, the missing piece of the jigsaw, is a striker.
05:36And it's just not there.
05:38And it's not through injury or any unfortunate situation.
05:42It's through one man refusing to play for this football club.
05:45And I think it's a disgrace.
05:47That's well documented.
05:48My feelings on it and everyone's feelings on it, really, in terms of support, as in the general media, really, surrounding Newcastle United and Alexander Ishak.
06:02Yassir Alvamayan, the PIF Governor and Newcastle Chairman in Newcastle at St James' Park for the game today.
06:10So you expect some sort of resolution to the Alexander Ishak saga while he's in town.
06:16And he's certainly a man who tries to get things done.
06:19And, yeah, reportedly, Ishak has had meetings with a PIF delegation in Newcastle corner, Jamie Rubin, about resolving his future.
06:32And potentially reintegrating him into the Newcastle side, which ultimately needs to happen sooner rather than later.
06:39Like, Newcastle need a striker.
06:41They don't have a striker really heading into Leeds other than Willis Sula, who, again, he's come on and he's gave Eddie health food for thought with a decent goal.
06:52But that's the situation for Newcastle now.
06:55Anthony Gordon's out for three games and they need Alexander Ishak.
06:58It's not going to be the case of, I don't think, Alexander Ishak literally just coming back and starting at Leeds on Saturday.
07:06I think it'll be a bit more gradual a process than that.
07:08He's missed all the pre-season.
07:10He hasn't played a minute of football since May.
07:14So, and even then, he was hardly the sharpest striker in the world.
07:19He ended the season quite poorly by his standards.
07:21So, yeah, how this Ishak situation resolves itself, I'm not sure.
07:26But Newcastle need a striker through the door or the need, well, in addition to resolving this Ishak situation one way or the other.
07:36So, yeah, you can catch all my thoughts over on X at Dom Sker or read the thoughts of Eddie Howe, the Newcastle players.
07:45My Newcastle player ratings over on the shieldsgazette.com website.
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