Liverpool's Defensive Flaws Exposed Again at St James' Park

Liverpool’s old flaws, the ones they vowed to leave behind with a new manager and a record summer outlay, were back on full display at St James’ Park. Pat Nevin summed it up on BBC Radio 5 Live: “You can see the weaknesses that Liverpool had last season have not gone away.” On this evidence, they’ve been amplified.

Andoni Iraola’s bold call to start Florian Wirtz as the No.10, ahead of a lightweight double pivot of Ryan Gravenberch and Dominik Szoboszlai, left Liverpool’s centre wide open. Predictably open. Newcastle, stripped of their most dangerous forward and their two best midfielders over the summer, still sliced through them with embarrassing ease.

The warning came inside five minutes. Gravenberch and Szoboszlai, both naturally front-foot players, had surged into the Newcastle box. When possession turned over, they were nowhere near the danger. One quick break, one simple ball, and Anthony Elanga was racing away to score. It was the kind of transition goal Liverpool conceded repeatedly last season. They have learned nothing.

The pattern never really changed. Whenever Newcastle went direct or broke the press, the visitors’ midfield vanished, exposing a back four that looked increasingly rattled. Even against a limited side in transition, Liverpool were far too easy to play through.

Cody Gakpo briefly dragged them level, but even that moment of relief lasted barely three minutes. Just 176 seconds after the equaliser, Joe Willock punished more slack positioning and loose concentration to restore Newcastle’s lead. Again, Liverpool’s shape dissolved at the first hint of pace.

Iraola had seen enough. Trailing for a second time, he turned to his bench and ripped up the structure he’d started with. Alexis Mac Allister replaced Wirtz, Victor Munoz came on for Ngumoha, and Liverpool finally gained some control and directness.

Munoz, eager and aggressive, drove at Newcastle’s defence and forced the penalty that Szoboszlai converted to salvage a point. His impact was immediate, his intent obvious. Yet his entrance also underlined a brutal reality for the man he replaced.

Ngumoha, asked to fill Mohamed Salah’s boots on the right despite preferring the left, was handed an almost impossible assignment. Sympathy for the youngster will be plentiful. The same cannot be said for Wirtz.

Liverpool fans have been patient with the £100 million signing. Very patient. Jamie Carragher, writing in the Daily Telegraph before the season kicked off, challenged the Germany international to show he is more than just “neat and tidy” on the ball. At St James’ Park, he failed that test.

Yes, Wirtz managed one of Liverpool’s few shots on target in the first half. Beyond that, he drifted. Again. Whether stationed on the left last season or used centrally here, he has yet to stamp his authority on the kind of game he was supposed to dominate when he arrived at Anfield amid huge expectation.

The uncomfortable question is becoming harder to avoid: where does Wirtz actually fit in this team?

He is not alone in scrutiny. Alexander Isak, returning to Newcastle in Liverpool colours, endured a miserable evening of his own. Starved of service for long spells, he still squandered his big moment. When the ball finally dropped kindly for him in the box midway through the second half, he lashed it over the bar. The home fans roared with laughter. Liverpool’s away end did not.

Isak’s anonymity and Wirtz’s softness in key moments are no joke for a club that invested nine-figure sums in the pair to turn them into Champions League contenders again. A year on, both are labouring against mid-table Premier League opposition, while the wider structure creaks around them.

The problems run through the team. Milos Kerkez struggled badly down the flank. Jeremie Frimpong, signed to add thrust and reliability, was anything but on Tyneside. The midfield balance remains wrong. The defensive protection is flimsy. Every department looks a step short of where a title-chasing side should be.

Liverpool will argue there is time. The season is young. Iraola’s tenure has barely begun. This is a squad still nursing the scars of a trophyless campaign that ended with a limp fifth-place finish in 2025-26. Szoboszlai spoke after the game about the need to cling to the positives: twice behind, they still found a way to draw.

That resilience matters. But it doesn’t mask the bigger picture.

This was meant to be the season when Wirtz and Isak answered the doubts and solved long-standing problems. Instead, on a sobering night at St James’ Park, they looked like part of the problem themselves. And with the transfer window ticking down and holes still everywhere, how many more nights like this can Liverpool afford?