Newcastle lost to the death against Liverpool but they seem to be catching up

Newcastle United may have lost it in the death at Anfield, but it looks like they are catching up with Liverpool. Money talks.

It should be perfectly obvious that it takes more than money to build a successful football club. Money is as good for a club as how it is spent, and the history of the game is awash with stories of clubs who spent more money than they could afford and repented of their bad decisions at leisure.

No other Premier League club has been as transformed as Newcastle United in the last twelve months. The atmosphere, the attitude, so many players and coaches… it's a very different club to the one that so recently lingered under a cloud shaped like Steve Bruce.

Of course, it was the money that made the biggest difference. Would Newcastle have spent a club-record transfer fee of £60m on Alexander Isak at this time last year? Probably not. Would Isak have refused Manchester United to go to Newcastle at this time last year? Also, probably not. £235million has been invested in the club during this period. This is not, as we all already know, a humble story of fortune.

But if it is entirely possible to criticize the origin of this money, it is also possible to admire what they have done with it. Not quite the team many would have expected after a year of Saudi ownership when they first took charge. The transfer policy eschewed anything resembling the Tyneside Galacticos flavor some expected, instead focusing on players who flew slightly under the radar instead.

It has been noted that Newcastle have rarely seemed to be in a battle to bring any of their players to St James' Park. The players who have arrived at Newcastle United – Kieran Trippier, Bruno Guimaraes, Nick Pope, Sven Botman, Dan Burn, among others – are not players who hit the headlines, but their arrival suggests a coordinated, inventive recruitment policy and clever, the invisible hand of new sporting director Dan Ashworth, poached from Brighton last season.

But none of this could be linked without the participation of Eddie Howe. Howe always seemed to be the fourth favorite when a very important managerial position presented itself while he was at Bournemouth but never seemed to come close. Well, now he is, and it's safe to say he passes the test. He took the team comfortably away from the relegation spots in the second half of last season, and that improvement has clearly continued in the summer and into the new season as well.

The contrast between the two sides was marked. For Liverpool it was the eighth time in nine matches that the opposition had scored first, and throughout the first hour they looked as flat as in recent games against Fulham, Crystal Palace and Manchester United. Their only big chance was caught by Luis Diaz, off balance after chasing a pass from Fabinho and rounding Nick Pope.

After 38 minutes of oddly flat and lifeless minutes, the Liverpool defense came to a halt as Sean Longstaff threaded the ball in for Isak to score. He had made few remarks in the previous 37 (although it should be added that he was far from unique in this regard), but that is irrelevant when you take the only chance you get like Isak has took his. He gets paid to create those moments, and to take them.

At the start of the second half, he almost repeated the trick, beating two and plan...