Ian Wright stunned after what Howe did to £40m Newcastle man on Sunday

Eddie Howe made a major decision during the second half of Newcastle United vs Liverpool, and it is one he got massively wrong.

Up until the 72nd minute, Anthony Gordon was the best player of the pitch. He scored his first ever St James’ ZPark goal for the Magpies, while he gave Trent Alexander-Arnold a torrid afternoon.

The 22-year-old was absolutely scintillating. At times he was unstoppable. In fact, the only thing that could stop him was his manager.

As the game approached the latter stages, Howe

However, it was not in this instance, and the Newcastle boss has received some criticism from pundit Ian Wright.

Ian Wright floored by Eddie Howe’s Anthony Gordon decision

Wright has been speaking on the Kelly And Wrighty Show, and expressed his disbelief at seeing Howe taking Gordon off during the second half against Liverpool.

“Can you imagine that roar for Anthony Gordon,” he said.

“This is it. He’s there, he’s playing against a top team – and he’s ripping them to shreds. Mentally, you’d think to yourself ‘what’s that about? Why’s he taking me off?’.

“There’s no way the Liverpool defenders are not thinking ‘thank goodness he’s gone off’. When a good player gets taken off, the players themselves look around each other saying ‘why’s he taking him off’. It has an effect on the team.”

Howe got it wrong as Newcastle crumble against Liverpool

There is no doubt about it, Howe made a mistake on Sunday. Taking Gordon off was a relief to Liverpool, who simply could not handle the £40million man.

At the same time, Howe also withdrew Sandro Tonali, who was having an exceptional game, and Alexander Isak. The Newcastle manager’s triple substitution changed the feel of the game and inadvertently gave the Reds a lift.

They certainly capitalised on it, with Darwin Nunez scoring twice to complete a dramatic and agonising comeback.

Howe will no doubt look back and feel like he made the wrong choice. But he obviously felt like his side needed fresh legs at that moment in time. Had Barnes squared that ball to Wilson to make it 2-0, we would be celebrating a win and toasting Howe for using his bench to full effect.

But it is fine margins at the elite level, and we were punished

decided to take Gordon off. The fourth official’s board went up in the 72nd minute to reveal that number 10 was being replaced by number 15. Gordon was off, and Harvey Barnes was on.

It was the third game in a row that Howe had made this change, and in the previous two fixtures it was the correct call.