Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk revealed the impact of Anthony Gordon’s red card challenge showing long stud marks on the back of his calf as the Newcastle striker was dismissed in their Premier League clash at St. James’ Park.
Gordon was shown a red card during the first half of the game on Monday night making a tricky contest against the Premier League champions even more difficult.
Newcastle boss, Eddie Howe, had called on the crowd to create an ‘electric’ atmosphere in the build up and the home supporters obliged as their team physically dominated Liverpool through the first half.
Gordon, playing through the middle in the absence of Alexander Isak, had three good chances in succession with his closest effort just heading over the crossbar after he met Harvey Barnes’ cross.
However, Liverpool took the sting out of Newcastle’s momentum and went ahead through a Ryan Gravenberch shot from outside the box which clipped the post and beat Nick Pope on his near side.
On the stroke of half-time, Gordon attempted to reignite some aggression and intensity into Newcastle’s play and sprinted to close down Van Dijk as Liverpool played out from the back.
Gordon was too far away from the defender and arrived late in a lunging tackle which caught the Liverpool captain on the back of the calf and scraped the studs of his boots down onto his achilles as the ball was booted up the pitch.
Referee Simon Hooper was called over to the pitchside monitor to review the decision and watched replays in real-time and slo-mo before announcing to the stadium crowd and the initial yellow card decision had been upgraded to red for serious foul play.
Gordon’s dismissal sent Newcastle down to 10-men for the second half against Arne Slot’s top-flight champions who hope to make it two wins from their opening two matches.
To make matters worse, Gordon now faces a three-match suspension which means Newcastle’s striker crisis, due to the refusal of Isak to train or play, will get worse before it gets better.
