Liverpool's Mixed Emotions After Draw at Newcastle

Andoni Iraola walked away from St James’ Park with mixed emotions and a point that felt hard-earned rather than fully satisfying.

His side had trailed twice in a wild opening-day contest. Newcastle struck through Anthony Elanga and Joe Willock, only for Cody Gakpo and Dominik Szoboszlai to drag the visitors level each time. The late comeback changed the mood, but not the manager’s standards.

"It's a strange feeling. Not the result we wanted but it's true, the way we scored the goal in the end, it tastes better. Still, we would have definitely preferred the win," Iraola told BBC, his relief tempered by frustration. The resilience after going 2-1 down was clear; the damage done early on, just as obvious.

Liverpool’s afternoon began in the worst possible way. Behind inside five minutes, they were rocked by the speed and intensity Newcastle brought to their first home game of the season.

"We started the game the worst way we knew. Newcastle away, first game of the season, the atmosphere, they have very fast players and we concede the goal," Iraola said. "They punished us and we had to go against the result. But we didn't give up in any moment."

The first half felt stretched and frantic. The second half, though, belonged more to the visitors.

"Once you concede the first goal, you need the game to go fast. You need things to happen when you're losing," Iraola reflected. "We could control the game in the second half. We had better possession around their box. When we scored, it looked like we were the team going to turn the game but then they scored again."

That punch-and-counterpunch rhythm forced Iraola to lean heavily on his bench. The intensity of his style left little room for passengers or tired legs.

"Jeremy hasn't done a proper pre-season, so it was kind of expected that he didn't finish the game," he said of Jeremy Jacquet. "All the substitutes gave us energy. We need it because it's difficult to last the full 90 minutes with the same players the way we want to play. Players coming off the bench can affect the game."

One of those changes proved decisive. Victor Munoz, thrown into the chaos, drove at Newcastle’s defence and won the late penalty that salvaged a draw. Iraola felt the forward could have had even more.

"Victor almost had another penalty but the referee whistled before conceding it but it was even more clear. So he has really affected the game."

Liverpool leave with a point, a comeback, and a clear warning: start like that again, and resilience might not be enough.