Carragher delivers brutal Jota verdict in Liverpool win at Newcastle

Liverpool made it two wins in a row on Saturday as they won 2-0 away at Newcastle United.

Despite the seemingly comfortable scoreline, the Reds were anything but comfortable at St James’ Park.

Liverpool scored twice in the opening 18 minutes, through Darwin Nunez and Cody Gakpo.

Jurgen Klopp’s charges then gained a huge advantage two minutes later when Nick Pope was sent off.

The Newcastle goalkeeper handled the ball outside the box, giving the referee no choice but to show a red card.

From then on, it looked as though a Liverpool win would be a formality.

However, the Reds went on to miss numerous chances throughout the rest of the game.

Meanwhile, Newcastle gave as good as they got, and threatened the Liverpool backline throughout.

Diogo Jota, who has recently returned from a calf injury, came on around the hour mark for the visitors.

It was only his second game back, after a 20-minute cameo in the 2-0 win over Everton on Monday.

Jota’s movement was good and he got himself in several great positions to get on the scoresheet.

However, the £140,000-a-week forward missed a hatful of chances to put Liverpool out of reach.

One particular chance led to Anfield legend Jamie Carragher delivering a pretty harsh verdict.

In the 88th minute, Jota had a free header just a few yards out, but he missed the target.

“That is one of those where I can say, ‘I could have scored that’,” Carragher said on Sky Sports (18/2/2023, 19:19).

Patience needed

A great result for Liverpool, complete with clean sheet. However, the scoreline doesn’t really tell the story.

The Reds weren’t at their best, and they really should’ve stat-padded against a Newcastle outfit that crumbled early on.

Nevertheless, it’s a win, and Liverpool will hope to kick on and climb into the European spots.

As for Jota, he’s only just getting back from a long-term injury.

It wasn’t a great display from him, but he’ll pick up match sharpness and soon he should be back to his unplayable best.