'It hurts even more': Alan Shearer reflects on bizarre call made by Eddie Howe on Saturday as he coos over Liverpool star

Newcastle United were once again made to pay for not being clinical enough when on top in a game on Saturday.

For the opening 40 minutes at Anfield, Newcastle looked like the most dangerous side by a country mile, and did manage to take the lead on 36 minutes as Anthony Gordon, playing as a centre-forward, found the back of the net from open play for the first time in the Premier League in a year.

However, that only seemed to wake Liverpool up and Hugo Ekitike hit a quick-fire double to give the Reds a 2-1 lead at half-time which they only built on in the second half as Newcastle were simply passengers.

Eddie Howe left three strikers on the bench at the start of the game, with Nick Woltemade, Yoane Wissa and Will Osula watching on from the sidelines. Howe's reasoning was that he wanted as much pace on the pitch as possible, which we do understand.

Alan Shearer questions why Eddie Howe left three strikers on the bench on Saturday

It was a decision that Alan Shearer feels sums up where Newcastle are right now with their strikers, as he told Gary Lineker on The Rest Is Football podcast. Shearer also said that the fact that Hugo Ekitike was so good was an extra bit of pain after the Magpies had tried to sign him in the summer.

"I thought the game plan worked really well for about 35 or 40 minutes because we looked dangerous on the counterattack. Liverpool, I thought, looked poor defensively as they have done for a while and Newcastle punished them for that ultimately with a very, very good goal from Anthony Gordon, his first in nearly 13 months in open playfor Newcastle.

"And then after that, I mean the brilliance of Ekitike and (Florian) Wirtz, I thought, particularly Ekitike, I mean, it hurts even more because Newcastle were in for him obviously, as you know in the summer but he chose to go to Liverpool, which I get, and that's fine, but he was the difference.

"I was thinking, okay, second half we can go at them again, but they never really got going in the second half, and the best team won. Liverpool were the best team by a mile

"And I think I don't know, it sort of sums up where Newcastle are that the manager chooses to leave three forwards basically on the bench. He left Wissa on the bench, left Woltemade on the bench. Osula was on the bench. I don't know, what's that 135-140 million quids worth of talent? And you go into it with a guy who hasn't scored for nearly 13 months in open play. sort of tells you where Newcastle are with their forwards at the minute."

Let's hope we don't have to see a repeat of that tactic

There's nobody who hates seeing Anthony Gordon play as a centre-forward more than me, but I have to give credit where it's due; he looked good on Saturday. For 40 minutes, anyway.

That goal was his first from open play when playing as a striker for Newcastle, too. We still don't want to see it happen again, especially when there's £150 million worth of strikers sat on the bench.

If pace was what we were looking for, Gordon should have started instead of Harvey Barnes with Will Osula in the middle and Anthony Elanga on the right. But you just can't drop Barnes; other than Gordon's goal, it was Barnes who came the closest to adding to Newcastle's tally with the free-kick that hit the post in the first half and forcing a solid stop from Allison in the second half.

Shearer is right, though - what does it say about Newcastle that they didn't play a recognised striker despite having three on the bench? It doesn't send a good message to the three who missed out.