Andoni Iraola admitted Liverpool's last-minute penalty left him with a "strange feeling" as he was eyeing a debut win but had to settle for a draw. Dominik Szoboszlai scored in the 99th minute at St James' Park to rescue a point for the Reds, who twice trailed and were behind for most of the contest.
Late penalty rescues a point
Anthony Elanga put Newcastle ahead after four minutes, and although Cody Gakpo equalised, the Reds were level for only three minutes before falling behind again. The Merseysiders still left with a share of the spoils thanks to their late penalty, but Iraola experienced mixed emotions given his desire to secure a win on his first outing.
Speaking to Match of the Day, he said: "It's a strange feeling. Not the result we wanted but it's true, the way we scored the goal in the end, it tastes better. Still, we would have definitely preferred the win."
Iraola reflects on slow start
He added: "We started the game the worst way we knew. Newcastle away, first game of the season, the atmosphere, they have very fast players and we concede the goal. They punished us and we had to go against the result. But we didn't give up in any moment. The energy the players, especially the substitutes, gave us, it was a good recovery."
"Once you concede the first goal, you need the game to go fast. You need things to happen when you're losing. We could control the game in the second half. We had better possession around their box. When we scored, it looked like we were the team going to turn the game but then they scored again."
Adapting to new management
Iraola had endured a difficult pre-season with Liverpool twice surrendering 2-0 leads to lose games. He inherited a side that finished fifth last season under Arne Slot, who was sacked following the difficult campaign.
Szoboszlai, now working under a third different manager in four years, hailed the camaraderie he has created. He said: "We are still getting to know each other, the whole team and coaching staff. But we have a good company together and good team spirit and that's all that's needed to be successful."
