Liverpool were bullied by Newcastle but it’s nonsense to say there are problems in that team – here is what the ‘geniuses’ criticising them have missed, writes GRAEME SOUNESS

I thought it was a disappointing show from Liverpool in last weekend’s Carabao Cup final.

In three of the last four games, their one outstanding goal getter and goal creator, Mo Salah, hasn’t turned up.

He won’t be happy with himself and the way he’s performed in those games. He’ll be an angry man to be around, though I assure you it will be a temporary drop off.

There’s been plenty of talk all week about how suddenly everything is wrong with the Liverpool team. Respectfully, I say that is nonsense.

You won’t find me going looking for ways to criticise Liverpool because they lost that final – even though the 2-1 scoreline flattered them.

This is a team who have been excellent from day one this season, and in the space of 11 days have come up against a fabulous Paris Saint-Germain and a super Newcastle team who were better than them.

This is a team who have been excellent from day one this season, and in the space of 11 days have come up against a fabulous Paris Saint-Germain and a super Newcastle team

I’m hearing questions about the quality of Liverpool’s strikers and their midfield all of a sudden – but I assure you, you don’t lose your ability overnight

I’m hearing questions about the quality of Liverpool’s strikers and their midfield all of a sudden – but I assure you, you don’t lose your ability overnight. The quality they had at the start of the season and have had up to this point, when no one was questioning them, still very much exists.

Why did they lose at Wembley? Because they lost the physical and mental battle to a Newcastle team who bullied them.

That particular battle is often overlooked, because when people watch football matches with an untrained eye, they only see the qualities that are on show from those on the ball.

In Liverpool’s case, Mo Salah’s cuteness, Alexis Mac Allister’s clever passing, Virgil van Dijk making everything look like he’s only in second gear. People completely miss the fundamental and most important thing in football at the highest level: energy and aggression from team who don’t have the ball.

You won’t hear about this from the new geniuses who have reinvented the game and are talking much more about tactics and formations and systems and pressing and this block and that block.

But the starting point in football is that you have to be in possession of the ball to play. Those four little words – ‘first to the ball’ – are paramount to any team’s performance. Because if you’re not first to it, you’re not in possession of it and that means you’re on your heels.

Liverpool have bullied teams all season – and yes, that is the correct word. But the bullies were bullied on Sunday.

As in the two games against PSG – a technically fabulous team who married that with a relentless work-rate – Arne Slot’s team encountered a Newcastle side motivated enough to put in the exact same effort that they were.

Arne Slot’s team encountered a Newcastle side motivated enough to put in the exact same effort that they were

Newcastle matched them and matched them and matched them and it was Liverpool who eventually took second place

Newcastle’s intensity and willingness to fight the battle for however long it took mean they came out on top and made it their game

It then becomes a battle of wills. A war of attrition. Who’s going to stop doing the hard yards first? Who’s going to drop off in the aggressive pressing? It was Liverpool, on the day.

You’re not talking about enormous margins. But Newcastle matched them and matched them and matched them and it was Liverpool who eventually took second place, and nothing in their game was right for them after that.

Everyone says, ‘It’s not the Liverpool that we’ve seen’ – failing to recognise Newcastle’s intensity and willingness to fight the battle for however long it took.

They came out on top and made it their game. A lot of that started in midfield. Newcastle’s midfield was better than Liverpool’s.

I categorically don’t subscribe to the view that Liverpool have a problem when it comes to strikers or the midfield. The fact they have so many goalscorers makes them dangerous. They’ve hit the wall at the wrong time because in the run-in they are all must-win games.

For Newcastle, the question now is, ‘Can they reproduce that every week?’ No, they can’t. But if I was speaking to that group, I would be reminding them how good they are and how good they can be, asking them: ‘Why can’t we be like that all the time?’ 

This should be just the beginning for Newcastle. I worked up there and it was always the dream, for the managers before me and after me, to get this club right, knowing that it would then be a very special place.

For Liverpool, it’s a question of regrouping, getting back on the horse and going again because you definitely don’t lose your qualities overnight.

For Liverpool, it’s a question of regrouping, getting back on the horse and going again because you definitely don’t lose your qualities overnight

What a joy to see Big Al back 

I was delighted to see my old friend and teammate Alan Hansen collect an MBE for services to football and broadcasting this week.

A wonderful start to this year for him, after a time last year when we were so worried about him and willing him to pull through.

When I arrived at Liverpool in 1978, Alan was a shy young man who barely spoke and was yet to establish himself in the Liverpool dressing room.

I was delighted to see my old friend and teammate Alan Hansen collect an MBE for services to football and broadcasting this week

Myself, Kenny Dalglish and Big Alan Hansen with the European Cup in 1981

He became a dominant voice and was always unbelievable back-up to Kenny and I, as we demonstrated that the Jock way was the right way to do things

Oh, how that changed as the years went on. He became a dominant voice and was always unbelievable back-up to Kenny Dalglish and I, as we demonstrated that the Jock way was the right way to do things.

What a footballer player he was, too: for me, an absolute dream to play with because he always got the ball to you in the right place at the right time.

I hope big Al doesn’t read this – but he made me a better player than I actually was!

Great Scott encapsulates United’s mismanagement 

Oh how Manchester United must regret selling Scott McTominay, whose penalty gave Scotland a win in Greece on Thursday night.

He’s a fantastic modern footballer. A high-energy, box-to-box workaholic who chips in with important goals.

He was 27 years old and not hurting United with his wages when the club’s ‘decision-makers’ thought it was a bright idea to sell him to Napoli for £25million.

Oh how Manchester United must regret selling Scott McTominay, whose penalty gave Scotland a win in Greece on Thursday night

McTominay has flourished at Napoli. Maybe United should be asking themselves how- much it will cost to get him back

They’d gone out and spent £58m on an ageing, 30-year-old Casemiro, and paid him £370,000 a week. And another £42m on Manuel Ugarte. Collective transfer fees of £100m.

Would someone at United please hold their hand up and say, ‘This was my shout.’ Because it’s been an atrocious piece of judgment. The perfect example of the mismanagement on an industrial scale at that club since Fergie packed in.

McTominay has flourished at Napoli. Maybe United should be asking themselves how much it will cost to get him back.

Would the players of today match up to past greats? 

I was interested to hear Harry Redknapp say that most of the players of today, despite their cost, don’t match up to the Tottenham, Chelsea and Manchester United players of 15 years ago.

Harry makes a good point, though to extend things further back, a great player today would have been a great player in the ‘80s. Just as the players who played in my generation and were top men would be top men today.

The pitches were terrible back in my day, which made it a more level playing field for the less talented teams

The referees when I played also allowed a lot more physicality!

The question I get asked most is, ‘Could you play in the game today?’ And my response is, ‘Don’t ask me that. Ask me this: Could the lads today play in the ‘80s?’ 

There were two very obvious differences. The pitches were terrible, which made it a more level playing field for the less talented teams, and the referees allowed a lot more physicality to go on.

All our training back then was about just taking one or two touches. And that was when the ball was bobbling around your shins. So I will close with a question.

In which circumstances do your first touch, control and technique have to be better? On a football carpet like they play on today, or the ploughed fields we had to perform on back then???