Andoni Iraola admits Liverpool's last minute penalty left him with a "strange feeling" as he was eyeing a debut win, but had to settle for a draw.
The nature of the result, which saw Dominik Szoboszlai score in the 99th minute, left the Reds with a far greater feeling than Newcastle, who were seconds away from a statement win to begin their new era.
Liverpool twice trailed and were behind for the majority of the contest. Anthony Elanga scored after four minutes and Cody Gakpo's equaliser only had the Reds level for three minutes.
The Merseysiders still left with a share of the spoils courtesy of their late penalty but their new manager experienced mixed emotions given his desire to secure a win on his first outing.
He told Match of the Day: "It's a strange feeling. Not the result we wanted but it's true, the way we scored the goal in the end, it tastes better. Still, we would have definitely preferred the win.
"We started the game the worst way we knew. Newcastle away, first game of the season, the atmosphere, they have very fast players and we concede the goal. They punished us and we had to go against the result. But we didn't give up in any moment. The energy the players, especially the substitutes, gave us, it was a good recovery.
"Once you concede the first goal, you need the game to go fast. You need things to happen when you're losing. We could control the game in the second half. We had better possession around their box. When we scored, it looked like we were the team going to turn the game but then they scored again."
Iraola had endured a difficult pre-season with Liverpool twice surrendering 2-0 leads to lose games. He's ultimately inherited a side that finished fifth last season under Arne Slot, who was sacked following the difficult campaign.
It means the squad are having to adapt to another new manager and goalscorer Szoboszlai, now working under a third different manager in four years, hailed to camaraderie he's created.
He said: "We are still getting to know each other, the whole team and coaching staff. But we have a good company together and good team spirit and that's all that's needed to be successful."