Newcastle manager Eddie Howe was unhappy with Arne Slot after hearing that the Liverpool head coach went to see referee Andy Madley at halftime.

Slot reportedly went to speak with Madley during the interval as Liverpool trailed 1-0 following Alexander Isak's opening goal after 35 minutes. Shortly after Isak's strike, Virgil van Dijk escaped punishment after appearing to blindside Anthony Gordon with a body check after he missed a major chance.

Three Liverpool players were shown a yellow card in the first half, including Alexis Mac Allister who will now miss Saturday's derby against Everton due to an accumulation of bookings. After the game, Howe learned that Slot had spoken to Madley during an interview on Amazon Prime, and was clearly irate.

"I don't think I'll go there. I think that's a can of worms. I tend to focus on my team," Howe said. Madley claimed that both coaches were welcome to speak with him, but Howe is believed to be upset that Slot chose to at halftime.

• Mohamed Salah proves Liverpool point as Arne Slot left fuming - 4 talking points from Newcastle

• Trent Alexander-Arnold responds in only way he can to Arne Slot's Liverpool decision

A thrilling second half saw the game end 3-3, as Curtis Jones initially fired Liverpool level before Gordon had the last laugh when restoring Newcastle's lead. A Mohamed Salah brace flipped the game on its head, but a rare Caoimhin Kelleher mistake gifted Newcastle a late equalizer as Fabian Schar squeezed his effort home from a tight angle.

While Howe appeared unhappy with Slot, he felt extremely positive about the performance after becoming the third team to stop Liverpool winning this season. Slot, on the other hand, had "mixed feelings" after dropping two points late on.

"I feel positive, yeah I feel really positive, that was a much better performance from us," Howe said on Amazon Prime after the game. "First half, really good. You sort of know with the quality that they have from the bench, when they make the changes, when Trent comes on with his creativity, we were going to have a potential issue.

"We hung in there and got a deserved equalizer... the pleasing thing for us off the back of Crystal Palace is we created chances and scored three goals. We looked dynamic, athletic, and played with a lot of quality."

Schar, Newcastle's hero late on, admitted after the game that he wasn't intending to shoot and instead was attempting to put the ball back into a dangerous area. "Well to be honest, I was on the stretch so I thought I'd try to keep it in play and bring it into a dangerous area," he said. "Great goal, great finish," Schar then added with a smile.

Slot wasn't as positive, as although he thought Liverpool were brilliant in the second half, he was upset with how his team started the game. "I have mixed feelings, we were outstanding in the second half but we were not good enough in the first half," Slot said. "Maybe 3-3 is what the game deserved.

"They were really aggressive and forced us into mistakes but we were so much better in the second half. I knew the game could be changed around, we were much better with the ball.

"After the week we had we could change the game which is a very positive thing to take. Every time we need Mo Salah he scores a goal. We are hoping and expecting he can continue this for a long time. He was outstanding in the second half, he did many special things for us."