Due to the renovation work on the runway at Newcastle Airport, Liverpool was unable to return quickly to Merseyside.

Since a flight was out of the question, the 180 mile return journey had to be made by road. There was a lot to think about for head coach Arne Slot and his team on the three-hour journey.

Their lead at the top of the Premier League was reduced to seven points after Caoimhin Kelleher’s blatant misjudgment was punished by Fabian Schar’s late equalizer in a 3-3 draw at St James’ Park.

After the glorious victory over heavyweights Real Madrid and Manchester City, the momentum waned. A thrilling second-half revival – led by the brilliance of Mohamed Salah – ultimately failed to result in an eighth consecutive win in all competitions.

The frustration was clear on the Liverpool players’ faces as they left the stadium. They knew this was a missed opportunity, but given the dire situation, that’s not a bad point.

Title rivals Arsenal lost in Newcastle and Manchester City only managed one point. Considering Slot’s team played their worst 45 minutes of the season in the first half, there are positives to salvage something from such a tiring evening.

Salah struck twice, setting one up for Curtis Jones and seeing another sensational shot rebound off the crossbar. The prolific Egyptian now has 15 goals and 12 assists in 21 appearances this season – he is involved in a goal every 63 minutes. It is unclear what more he has to prove to the club’s hierarchy to ensure he remains in charge beyond next summer.

“Mo had a huge impact on the game,” Slot said. “It’s hard for me to predict the long-term future, but he’s in a very good position at the moment and with a very good team that offers him good opportunities and he’s capable of doing something special.”

“In the first half we had big problems with their intensity and aggressiveness. They forced us to make too many mistakes. It wasn’t that difficult to improve in the second half and we did that. We dominated the second half. Since we’re 3-2 up with a minute to go, it’s a disappointment to drop two points.”

Trent Alexander-Arnold, who provided two assists, and his substitute Dominik Szoboszlai also made eye-catching contributions.

But this was also a contest that showed some chinks in Liverpool’s armour. There was courage for the pursuers, who lost points for the third time this season.

Above all, they looked exhausted given the energy they had invested in recent victories. Before Wednesday evening, Ryan Gravenberch had played the full 90 minutes in all 18 of Liverpool’s Premier League and Champions League games.

The Dutchman has contributed significantly to their outstanding form and has made the lack of signing Real Sociedad midfielder Martin Zubimendi in the summer a mere footnote. But for the first time this season, Gravenberch looked like a player who was feeling the strain. He won only two of seven duels and was booked before being substituted midway through the second half.

With Alexis Mac Allister suspended for Saturday’s Merseyside derby after his fifth yellow card, Liverpool urgently need to get Gravenberch back up and running. Szoboszlai and Jones will certainly start alongside him at Goodison Park.

Defensively, the injury situation is slowly giving Slot a headache. With Ibrahima Konate (knee), Conor Bradley (hamstring) and Kostas Tsimikas (ankle) all out, his ability to rotate at the back is limited.

Jarell Quansah played at right-back at academy level at times, but away at Newcastle was his first senior start in that position and it showed. Understandably, Slot wanted to avoid overloading Alexander-Arnold so soon after his return from injury, but the difference in introducing the vice-captain was huge.

Joe Gomez was so confident against City that he had a much tougher evening against the club he almost joined last summer and was lucky that Anthony Gordon was unable to punish his biggest careless mistake after a wrong back pass.

It was the first time in Slot’s tenure that Liverpool had conceded three goals in a game. Newcastle’s expected goals (xG) total of 2.09 was easily the highest Liverpool have allowed in a game so far this season – the previous mark was set by Aston Villa with 1.38 xG at Anfield last month.

After fighting back from 1-0 and 2-1 down, they were 3-2 ahead in the final stages, but the visitors showed little semblance of control. They couldn’t take the excitement out of the action like they had done earlier this season.

At the front of the field, Salah’s ridiculous numbers served to disguise Darwin Nunez’s lack of performance. The Uruguayan striker has scored just once in his last nine appearances and has just three goals in 18 games in all competitions in the 2024/25 season. That’s not enough.

Nunez’s work ethic is unquestionable, but the lack of composure and belief in the final third remains a persistent problem. He failed to force a single save from his three shots against Newcastle and wastefully grabbed the best opportunity to get in the way.

The return of Diogo Jota, who has not played since the win over Chelsea in October due to a chest injury, cannot come soon enough. Fellow attacker Federico Chiesa is also on the comeback route after scoring in an hour-long effort in Liverpool U21’s Premier League International Cup defeat to Danish club Nordsjaelland on Wednesday.

December is relentless for Liverpool. This was their second of nine games in all competitions before the turn of the year.

Everton, buoyed by a comfortable victory over fellow strugglers Wolverhampton Wanderers on Wednesday, will be looking forward to what is likely to be their final Goodison derby on Saturday. Liverpool simply cannot afford to repeat their poor start against Newcastle when they lost battles all over the pitch and gave up the initiative.

Then there is a trip to Girona in the Champions League, a home league game with Fulham and Southampton in the round of 16 of the Carabao Cup. The year ends with Tottenham away, Leicester City at home and West Ham United away in the league.

This result should not shock Liverpool. You remain in a position of strength. They have exceeded all expectations so far and there will definitely be a few blips along the way. But if they want to stay ahead they will have to learn from a crazy night at St James’ Park when they twice dug themselves out of a hole but failed to make it over the finish line.

(Top photo: Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)