After what was a huge sucker-punch of a goal with the last kick of the game deep into stoppage time, Eddie Howe somehow managed to come across calm and collected in his post-match interviews.
Howe has a knack of saying the right thing, steering clear of hyperbole and, in this case, anger-fuelled tirades. Speaking to the media after the game Howe said “That’s painful that. I’m very proud of the players and everybody really, for the commitment given to the game and the execution of the game plan.
“I think when you’re in the lead here, naturally it becomes a different game, we had to withstand pressure, we had to defend really, really well and we did for long periods. I don’t remember them having too many clear-cut chances, yes there was pressure they had long shots, but we defended really well.”
In his post-match media briefing, Howe wouldn’t be drawn into comments on the back-and-forth on between the two benches at the full-time whistle, in fact, he managed to avoid making any form of controversial comment which could have landed him in trouble with the FA, despite the fact there were several things during the game that he had the right to feel aggrieved about.
Jurgen Klopp, on the other hand, was not so graceful in victory, feeling the need to bring attention to Newcastle’s “time-wasting” tactics saying “It started so early in the game, I was thinking what’s going on here? I think in the first two minutes the first player was down and then got up and was fine.” Because that never happens in football, apparently.
On a more positive note, Alexander Isak got off to a blistering start in the black and white of Newcastle lasting an hour on his debut before being withdrawn after picking up a slight knock. Isak spoke to The Chronicle saying: “For the goal, I found a good position in the box and then the pass from Longstaff was incredible to receive. I was just thinking of putting it in the back of the net – and I got a quite good finish, I suppose!”