Newcastle vs. Liverpool: 6 Key Issues and Decisions That Will Shape EPL Game

After their Capital One Cup matches earlier this week, Newcastle United will host Liverpool at St. James’ Park on Saturday in one of the most historically exciting fixtures in Premier League history.

Newcastle, fresh from an excellent win at Manchester City in the Capital One Cup, come on the back of two consecutive Premier League victories against Leicester City and Tottenham Hotspur. Liverpool, who themselves secured a last-gasp win against Swansea City in the Cup, went unbeaten in domestic action in the month of October.

As we look ahead towards Saturday, here are six key issues and decisions that will shape how Newcastle vs. Liverpool turns out.

In nine Premier League games this season, Liverpool have scored 13 goals, a far cry from last year’s prolific goal-scoring, and Newcastle have scored 10, fourth from bottom in the league.

With Papiss Demba Cisse likely out of contention for the match, Alan Pardew doesn’t have a single striker up front who has scored more than a solitary league goal this season, while Raheem Sterling is the only Liverpool forward who has done the same.

The struggles of Emmanuel Riviere and co. mirror those of Mario Balotelli and Rickie Lambert, who have yet to open their account for the Reds in the league this season. Gabriel Obertan’s winner against Leicester was only his second-ever Premier League goal, while Ayoze Perez opened his account as recently as last weekend.

It would be an injustice for one of the most high-scoring fixtures in the English top flight to be reduced to a lack of firepower up front, yet all signs point to a relatively dour stalemate on Saturday.

It’s not like they are doing too much better at the other end of the pitch either: In nine games, Liverpool and Newcastle have conceded 13 and 15 goals respectively.

Tottenham’s opening goal last Sunday was an example of Newcastle’s defensive frailties when Emmanuel Adebayor headed in from Ryan Mason’s cross after some unconvincing defending, while Liverpool’s thrilling 3-2 win over Queens Park Rangers last week exposed their soft underbelly as well.

With both teams struggling to score goals but at the same time leaking them in, the midfielders could be the ones to profit as they rush forward into dangerous goal-scoring positions. 

One such positional battle that promises to be intriguing—and worrying if you’re a Liverpool fan—is that between Moussa Sissoko and Steven Gerrard.

Brendan Rodgers’ steadfast refusal to give Gerrard any amount of resting time—he’s started and completed every Premier League and Champions League game for Liverpool this season—further exposes his captain’s ageing legs and lack of positional discipline to marshal the central midfield area on his own.

With powerhouse midfielders like Yaya Toure and Mohamed Diame always effective performers against Gerrard’s loosely patrolled and expansive midfield, Sissoko’s similar brand of direct running at pace looks to cause the Liverpool back line a whole host of problems.

Don’t be surprised if Newcastle get themselves onto the scoresheet with Sissoko playing a major part in the build-up.

The hosts will have their own offensive threats to deal with, of course, and the in-form Philippe Coutinho and Raheem Sterling will be looking to attack the midfield pairing of Jack Colback and Vurnon Anita, who have yet to fully gel with each other.

Daniel Sturridge’s injury blunts the Liverpool attack considerably, but if Brendan Rodgers starts with both Coutinho and Sterling, he will be choosing to rely on their pace, dribbling, flair and creativity to light a spark in the Reds’ offence.

With them in the side, Rodgers will rest assured that the Reds will have a strong presence in the final third and chances created aplenty. The rest is just up to Mario Balotelli or Rickie Lambert, or both, to turn into the back of the net.

With Sammy Ameobi coming off the bench to score a quickfire equalizer after the break and Remy Cabella putting in a delicious ball for Ayoze Perez to head in for his first senior goal, Alan Pardew’s squad players are finally stepping up to the plate.

Yet judging from Newcastle’s constant personnel changes this year, perhaps Pardew himself doesn’t know which his strongest team is—he will welcome the selection headache from recent performances as much as dread the possibility that his starting XI might be inconsistent and ineffective.

He will take solace from the likelihood that the St. James’ Park crowd will be right behind their team, especially after the excellent result at White Hart Lane last Sunday.

Brendan Rodgers’ first XI is more or less the same every week, yet the tactical system deployed isn’t. Does Sterling start as a second striker alongside Balotelli in the 4-4-2 diamond formation that served Liverpool so well last season, or does Balotelli lead the line?

Minor changes like this have big ramifications on the Reds’ approach play. As Liverpool fans will have seen in recent weeks, the real impetus and domination has come as Rodgers rings the changes at around the hour mark and switches from a 4-2-3-1 to a 4-4-2 diamond.

The question is whether Rodgers will revert to his most effective setup from the first whistle instead of have it as a Plan B. Their goalless draw against Hull City last Saturday was enough evidence that just a half hour in their best system might not be enough to break down a resolute opponent.

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