Liverpool signed off the 2020 calendar year with a stalemate at Newcastle.
Mohamed Salah, Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mane all peppered the Magpies’ goal but were denied by an imperious display from goalkeeper Karl Darlow.
The Premier League champions still head into the New Year occupying the summit with a three-point cushion over second-placed Manchester United.
Here were the key talking points from St James’ Park:
Klopp glad to see the back of 2020
2020 will go down as the most challenging period that the world has ever faced and Liverpool will also now be glad to finally see the back of it, too.
That may seem trite considering the year also saw Jurgen Klopp’s side finally end decades of dispair by clinching a first Premier League title since 1990.
But the Reds head into the New Year with 15 points dropped after just 16 games of the campaign – the same as they conceded throughout last season.
Granted, a second-half onslaught from West Brom last weekend and Karl Darlow’s heroics in Newcastle’s goal added an additional four to the tally.
Liverpool still sit pretty atop the Premier League table with a modest lead and the most points won over a 12-month period for a third consecutive year.
Yet mounting injuries and a less than emphatic title defence means that the champions are instead looking ahead to what 2021 holds.
Perfect timing for Thiago comeback
Over two months since Thiago Alcantara last graced the famous red shirt, he offered Liverpool a reminder of just what they had been missing in that time.
Klopp admitted that he was leaving it late on including the Spain international in his match day squad for this eventual stalemate in the North East.
In just shy of 20 minutes, Thiago vindicated his manager’s leap of faith with a substitute outing that was laden with flashes of his trademark repertoire.
He sprayed passes around at will and refused to back out of battles in the middle of the park despite the circumstances in which he was sidelined.
Whether Thiago is given a more prominent role in the trip to Southampton on Monday depends on his speed of recovery, especially after a long period out.
Coming up against Ralph Hasenhuttl’s side will be a different prospect to a Newcastle team happy to soak up the pressure while attempting to counter.
All the more reason that Thiago’s first steps back into the reckoning arrived at a key moment for Liverpool’s midfield in the run-up to their South Coast trip.
‘Brexit midfield’ fails to inspire
Those familiar with a long-running joke among the Anfield faithful will have appreciated the irony of the ‘Brexit midfield’ getting an end-of-year outing.
Klopp’s contempt for the UK’s impending departure from the United Kingdom is well-documented and he offered a forecast of how it is likely to pan out.
On paper, the combination of Jordan Henderson, James Milner and Curtis Jones appeared formidable yet the brutal reality was highly uninspiring.
An evergreen Milner’s versatility has been a highly useful commodity for Liverpool since his arrival over five years ago but not on this occasion.
Admittedly it is unfair to single out the utility man as the root cause for the midfield’s failure to click, with Henderson and Jones similarly off-colour.
Had Klopp started another one-time Newcastle man in Gini Wijnaldum over the 35-year-old, a more dynamic outcome may have been on the agenda.
Reds Arrows go full Jekyll and Hyde
Since Diogo Jota’s confirmed absence earlier this month, Liverpool’s established front three has become a veritable Jekyll and Hyde.
They swaggered and snatched goals against Crystal Palace and Tottenham before labouring in back-to-back games with West Brom and the Magpies.
At St James’ Park, Mohamed Salah and Roberto Firmino were guilty of spurning clear-cut opportunities to break the deadlock in this cagey affair.
Neither could have done much about Karl Darlow’s saves in a match-winning performance but goal-scoring chances were still there for the taking late on.
Klopp’s first-choice front line are nicknamed the Red Arrows for a reason and if they want to keep that moniker, they need to shake their current alter ego.