GARY SPEED looked back on Saturday's 1-1 draw with Liverpool at St. James' Park and admitted that The Magpies had dropped two key points.

A defensive error gifted Liverpool the lead with just six minutes gone, and even though United went on to dominate after that Gerard Houllier's men held on for a point. 

"It was one of those games  where you dominate for 90 minutes but can't convert it into goals," said Speed.

"They only really put us under pressure in the first five or 10 minutes. We dominated the game and maybe on another day we would  have won it, the ball just wouldn't go in for us.

"But we shot ourselves in the foot early doors by giving a goal away for the second week. You can't do that against teams like Liverpool. You cannot afford to give them a lead but it's not just about  the defenders, it's about everyone.

"We've got to concentrate from the start and keep things tight, especially at home because it suits visiting teams.

"We said at half-time just forget about the goal and keep passing the ball and we got the goal from the penalty spot.

"Laurent Robert was going away from goal so it was right that Chris Kirkland wasn't sent off, you never like to see players sent off. If Laurent had been in the middle of the goal he would have been off so there weren't many complaints  from our players."