DON’T WORRY. ..BE

Pressure on Klopp’s side to win and Keita provides the winner

JURGEN KLOPP read the script at St James’ Park – and then his players tore it up.

The German knew the scene had been set for an upset that would have given the Premier League title race a dramatic twist.

Only it never happened.

Klopp looked like the cat who got the cream after the final whistle.

Little wonder. He made five changes from the side that cruised to a Champions League triumph over Villarreal in midweek and still came up smelling of roses.

He said: “We played two-and-ahalf days ago. We’ve come here to a team in form, who have won six games on the bounce at home.

“There’s great weather, everyone’s in a good mood. Everything was prepared for another home win. The only group who wanted to avoid that were my players.

“In the circumstances, it was a top-class performance. I’m really happy. We kept the ball well, we were on fire.”

Before kick-off, the statistics pointed to a tough afternoon. At the final whistle, they painted a picture of a very different story.

Twenty-four shots by an away side, 10 on target – versus four from the hosts with only two troubling Reds’ keeper Alisson.

As James Milner commented afterwards: “That’s what our training comes in for, days like these.”

It wasn’t difficult picking out the day’s outstanding performer.

That was Martin Dubravka, the bloke standing between the sticks for the Magpies.

It could have gone to Liverpool’s Andy Robertson. Or Virgil van Dijk, who was peerless. Naby Keita deserves commendation for the cool manner in which he converted the game’s only goal.

But Dubravka repelled almost everything that came his way – and did particularly well in countless one-on-one duels with Diogo Jota.

The only time the Slovakia international was defeated came in the 19th minute with what turned out to be the matchwinner. Almost the whole of St James’ Park was upset at referee Andre Marriner after what appeared – at first glance – to be a foul in the build-up on defender Fabian Schar.

The Switzerland international failed to control a ball correctly and had to stretch as Milner lunged for it 35 yards from the home goal.

Liverpool’s veteran midfielder won it cleanly and the centre-half caught the underside of his boot in his follow-through.

The ball rolled to Jordan Henderson, who switched it out wide to Keita.

After a neat one-two with Jota, the Guinea international was calmness personified as he dummied and then slotted past a couple of Toon players.

Asked about the incident, Toon boss Eddie Howe said: “It looked an untidy get-together, but my initial thought was, ‘We’ll be lucky if VAR saves us here’.”

It didn’t.

Miguel Almiron thought he had equalised after rounding Alisson, but his effort was disallowed for offside.

And after the game, Howe said: “It was close – but not close enough.

“We didn’t have one moment where you thought, ‘We must score’. But trying to get the ball against this Liverpool team is not easy.

“You need the ball to score, but we weren’t a threat on the counter and our set-plays weren’t at the level they have been.

“We weren’t quite right.” So Jurgen’s juggernaut rumbles on, crushing everything before it.

On this evidence on Tyneside – where the odds were obviously stacked against them – it’s going to take something special to stop it.

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It was a top-class performance. I’m really happy. We kept the ball well, we were on fire.