The look on the faces of the Liverpool players trudging towards the bus that would take them back to Merseyside said plenty. This was two points dropped for the Reds in the context of how they showed in the second half what they are truly capable of.

Still with a healthy lead at the top of the Premier League table, though - now just the seven points - it wasn't all bad for Liverpool. And it could easily have been much better with Mohamed Salah doing everything he could.

Curtis Jones was excellent in midfield and he will now be nailed on to start against Everton at the weekend with Alexis Mac Allister suspended. With Jones needed deeper, Dominik Szoboszlai will therefore almost certainly come in.

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Jones played as the number six when Ryan Gravenberch was taken off and continued to keep things ticking. Looking sharp as he moved across the turf with more intensity and purpose than any of the other midfielders - representing both sides - on the pitch, it was a strong performance.

Jones has played deep before but this was another sign of Liverpool being slightly stretched in terms of resources. The backline - missing Ibrahima Konate, Conor Bradley, Kostas Tsimikas and, from the start at least, Trent Alexander-Arnold - was representative of the lack of options Arne Slot had. Slot needed an attacking change to get back into the game and Gravenberch simply wasn't on it.

The Reds boss, however, could have improved his team simply by choosing a different order with his starting XI. Jarell Quansah was far from a natural at right-back and in the middle, Joe Gomez started well but ended up making some costly errors. In each other’s positions, that kind of line-up would have made much more sense - but Slot resisted the chance to make the change.

Gomez played much of last season at full-back while Quansah was ahead of Konate in the pecking order under Jurgen Klopp. It would have looked much more natural had they been deployed that way around.

Alexander-Arnold, who looked really sharp here, will almost certainly be fit enough to start on Saturday (that is likely to be why he wasn't involved for longer here with one eye on the swift turnaround). Next time he isn't, though, switching Quansah and Gomez around would appear far more logical.

Nonetheless, a point away at Newcastle - albeit the Reds were a goal up with the board for stoppage time about to go up - is not a bad one, in particular with a patched up defense and under the lights at a raucous St James’ Park.

Additionally, in a game where the Reds struggled, it can be argued that digging in to get a point on the board without playing well is the sign of a team on the up, even if the caveat of having all three there to be grasped until the Caoimhin Kelleher mistake still applies.

With a seven-point gap, the narrative doesn’t need to be about dropped points. There is some pressure on Liverpool to ensure it doesn’t happen twice in a week with Saturday’s trip to Everton, though, or the clamor to tear down a team that the hype machine has built up will begin in earnest.

Having beaten Real Madrid and Manchester City, this draw was more palatable in some ways - trickier to explain the poor performance, maybe, but with more wriggle room to soak up the dropped points.

Liverpool will be as keen as anyone, though, to get back to winning ways in just three days. On this evidence, Salah, Jones and Alexander-Arnold will be central if it happens, because just like this one, the Merseyside derby is a game which Liverpool should win - but will find tough.