Liverpool's Flaws Exposed Again at St James' Park

Pat Nevin’s verdict on BBC Radio 5 Live cut straight to the bone: the flaws that dragged Liverpool down last season are still staring them in the face. At St James’ Park, they weren’t just exposed – they were invited out into the open.

Andoni Iraola’s big tactical call was to drop Florian Wirtz into the pocket ahead of a midfield two of Ryan Gravenberch and Dominik Szoboszlai. On paper, it looked adventurous. On grass, it looked reckless. Newcastle, stripped of their most dangerous forward and two best midfielders over the summer, sliced through Liverpool with embarrassing ease.

Gravenberch and Szoboszlai can play. Nobody doubts that. But both are built to hurt teams going one way, not protect a back four going the other. The imbalance was obvious within five minutes. As Newcastle broke, both Liverpool midfielders were caught high, in the opposition box, leaving acres of space behind them. Anthony Elanga didn’t need a second invitation, racing away to finish a classic counterattack that Liverpool have seen far too often.

The pattern felt painfully familiar. Liverpool pushing bodies forward, gaps yawning in transition, opponents racing through the middle. The sense of déjà vu only deepened after the break.

Cody Gakpo briefly changed the mood with an equaliser, but any notion of control evaporated almost immediately. Just 176 seconds later, Joe Willock restored Newcastle’s lead, punishing more slack positioning and loose concentration from the visitors. One punch landed, Liverpool responded, then walked straight into another.

Iraola had seen enough. Chasing the game for a second time, he ripped up his initial plan. Alexis Mac Allister came on to steady the midfield, while summer signing Victor Munoz replaced Wirtz. Ngumoha, who had been handed the unforgiving job of filling Mohamed Salah’s boots on the right despite preferring the left, also made way.

Munoz brought something Liverpool had been crying out for: direct running, aggression, a bit of chaos. His willingness to drive at defenders earned the penalty that allowed Szoboszlai to drag Liverpool level again. The point owed much to the substitute’s impact.

Ngumoha, by contrast, deserved sympathy. Thrown into Salah’s role, on the wrong flank, in a dysfunctional system, he was set an almost impossible task. Wirtz, though, will not be afforded the same understanding.

Liverpool supporters have given the Germany international time, patience and benefit of the doubt. Jamie Carragher, writing in the Daily Telegraph before the season kicked off, challenged the £100 million signing to show he is more than “neat and tidy”. This was his chance to answer that call. Instead, he drifted.

Wirtz did register one of Liverpool’s few first-half efforts on target, but that solitary moment underlined the wider problem: flashes, not influence. The longer this goes on, the harder it becomes to see exactly where he belongs in this XI.

He has looked uncomfortable on the left wing. Central, in his supposed natural role, he again failed to stamp any authority on a game he was bought to dominate. When he arrived at Anfield last summer, he was billed as the man to light up nights like this. Right now, he barely flickers.

Alexander Isak sits in a similar, uncomfortable spotlight. Back at Newcastle, he turned in a miserable display. Service was limited, but when a clear chance finally fell to him in the second half, he lashed it high into the stands. The home crowd roared with laughter. Liverpool fans, watching another marquee signing misfire, will not have shared the joke.

Between Isak’s anonymity and Wirtz’s ineffectiveness, Liverpool’s problems feel structural, not incidental. Milos Kerkez and Jeremie Frimpong struggled badly on Tyneside as well, part of a performance that raised questions in every area of the pitch. This is a squad that clearly needs more help before the transfer window shuts.

The sting lies in the numbers. Liverpool have already committed nine-figure sums to Wirtz and Isak, believing they were buying Champions League game-changers. A year on, both are labouring against ordinary Premier League opposition.

The season is still young. Iraola has only just begun the job of rebuilding a side that limped to fifth last term without a trophy, weighed down by fragile confidence and familiar failings. Szoboszlai was right to point to the resilience shown in coming from behind twice to earn a draw. There were shards of character in there.

But nights like this were supposed to be different. Wirtz and Isak were signed to close the gap, to solve long-standing issues in both boxes. Instead, they walked off at St James’ Park as symbols of a project still searching for answers.