Slot machine on blink

Toon wanted this one more

- BY ANDY DUNN

AFTER an Alexander Isak half-volley set Newcastle towards victory, Mohamed Salah put his hand on his hips and trudged silently back upfield.

To a man, his team-mates did the same. Even skipper Virgil van Dijk was unable to raise a shout of defiance or conjure up a gesture of encouragement.

It was an empty response in an empty performance devoid of all the things that have turned the Premier League title race into a Liverpool lap of honour - dynamism, determination, imagination, intelligence, physicality, fight.