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Season 2008-09
Liverpool (a) Premier League
 
  Date: Sunday 3rd May 2009, 1.30pm
Live on Setanta

Venue:
 Anfield

Conditions: 
supplicating

Admission: £38 (Last season: £36)

Programme:
£3
 

Liverpool

Newcastle United

3 - 0

Teams

Goals

22 mins Viduka's poor header put his defence under pressure, but the danger looked to have been cleared before Smith dallied on the ball and lost out to Dirk Kuyt. The Dutch forward pushed the ball across the face of goal, to where Yossi Benayoun was lurking to finish from close range amid strong offside appeals that were seemingly backed up by TV replays 0-1

27 mins Dirk Kuyt was allowed to head home Riera's corner in front of the travelling support, with TV replays showing that Kuyt's marker Beye was blocked by Daniel Agger as the corner came over. 0-2

Half time: Liverpool 2 Toon 0

88 mins Nicky Butt conceded a free kick midway down the Liverpool right, from which Aurelio delivered a centre that Lucas converted via a routine header - with two other colleagues similarly-placed and our defence completely AWOL. 0-3

Full time: Liverpool 3 Toon 0

We Said

Alan Shearer commented:

"Did anyone really expect us to come here and get anything? I did. We did in the dressing room. Maybe our fans didn't but they came out again in their thousands.

"Whether we had enough to come here and win is a doubt but we felt we could come here and get something out of the game.

"Time is running out but we've still got two very important home games which will decide our fate, no doubt about that.

"The game with Boro - whoever loses that will find it very difficult to come back. But I believe we will get something from our next two home games.

"We were lucky to keep it down to three, how many times did they hit the bar?

"I was disappointed with the manner of the goals. The first was offside and the second and third were from set-pieces. If you give players things to do at set-pieces and they do not pick up their man, it is very disappointing."

On the Kop singing "You should have stayed on the sofa” at him:

“I wondered if I should have laughed or cried, so I decided to laugh.

“But our fate was not going to be decided here. This is a very difficult place to get anything. Our fate will be decided by our two home games with the next one against Middlesbrough probably the biggest game this club has had for a very long time.”

On Barton:

"He deserved to be sent off, he has let himself and the club down  - we will do what we have to do. 

"He has apologised but it's been done and he is out for the rest of the season. He was not unlucky, the referee was spot-on. There was no need for him to do that in such a position."

They said


Rafa said:

"There were a lot of positives from that victory. We could have scored more and we are closer again at the top and still pushing.

“Manchester United are a good team with good players, and they will need to make two big mistakes to let us in. But I still believe they can be caught and they will make mistakes.

“All we can do is to continue to win our matches and see how they handle pressure. We must win all our games to see how that effects them at the top.”
 

Stats


Magpies @ Anfield: Premier League Years:

2008/09: Lost 0-3
2007/08:
Lost 0-3
2006/07:
Lost 0-2
2005/06:
Lost 0-2
2004/05: Lost 1-3 Kluivert 
2003/04: Drew 1-1 Ameobi
2003/04: Lost 1-2 Robert (FAC)
2002/03: Drew 2-2 Speed, Shearer
2001/02: Lost 0-3
2000/01: Lost 0-3
1999/00: Lost 1-2 Shearer
1998/99: Lost 2-4 Solano, Andersson 
1997/98: Lost 0-1
1996/97: Lost 3-4 Gillespie, Asprilla, Barton
1995/96: Lost 3-4 Ferdinand, Ginola, Asprilla
1995/96: Won 1-0 Watson (LC)
1994/95: Lost 0-2
1993/94: Won 2-0 Lee, Cole

Full record against the Reds:
 

  P W D L F A
SJP 74 29 23 22 108 90
Anfield 74 11 14 49 76 169
League 148 40 37 71 184 259
SJP(FA) 4 4 0 0 6 1
Anf/W 5 0 1 4 3 13
SJP(LC) 1 0 0 1 0 2
Anf 1 1 0 0 1 0
Cup 11 5 1 5 10 16
Tot 159 45 38 76 194 275

Since Patrick Kluivert netted here in December 2004, we've failed to score in 418 minutes & counting.

Joey Barton became the sixth Newcastle player to be dismissed this season so far:

Danny Guthrie Hull (h)
Habib Beye Manchester City (h)
Sebastien Bassong Wigan (a)
Nicky Butt Blackburn (a)
Kevin Nolan Everton (h)
Joey Barton Liverpool (a)

His was the fifth dismissal of a Newcastle player against Liverpool in the Premier League era:

Philippe Albert 1994 (h)
Dietmar Hamann 1998 (a)
Lee Bowyer 2004 (a)
Jean Alain-Boumsong 2006 (h)
Joey Barton 2009 (a)

Waffle

As expected, United failed to pull off their 'Mission Impossible' on Sunday afternoon in front of an Anfield crowd including James Bond himself, Daniel Craig. And Alan Shearer's side started to self-destruct when Joey Barton marked his return to Merseyside with yet another violent outburst, leaving an opponent on a stretcher and the midfielder out of our final three games.

Some early pressure from a Newcastle side with Peter Lovenkrands preferred to Michael Owen as support to Obafemi Martins and Mark Viduka raised hopes of finding the net here for the first time in over five hours of play. However, efforts from each of the front trio failed to force Reina into a save - although Viduka should have done so when he looped his close-range effort over the bar.

By then though reality had intervened at the other end, as the Reds made light of the absence of hamstrung striker Fernando Torres to net twice in the first half hour. Alonso then struck the woodwork as the home side moved up a gear and frequently looked like adding to their tally - no sign today of the Rafa "hand jive" signal that so enraged Sam Allardyce in a recent game here...

The second half was slightly delayed due to the visitors having only nine men on the field - Viduka lumbering on after Gutierrez had replaced Lovenkrands (who took a whack when colliding with Kop End hoardings earlier).

Further home goals looked likely but the Reds went off the boil and dragged numerous shots wide of the target before Alonso hit the crossbar once again. At the other end United had barely been sighted at all and with time running out, Shearer prepared to bring on Andy Carroll and Owen - only for events on the field to force him into a hasty rethink.

Joey Barton had cut a fairly low-profile figure on his return to the lineup after an eleven game absence through injury - with only a couple of minor spats to report....until the game entered the 77th minute.

At that point he propelled himself into a needless lunge on Alonso down near the corner flag at the Kop End, which left the Spaniard laid out on the touchline and Barton red-carded, referee Phil Dowd ignoring his protestations of having played the ball.

Later TV replays of the tackle confirmed that it was reckless, but perhaps not quite as awful as first thought. Given the identity of the perpetrator and his previous though it's now open season again on the player - although it can be argued that Kevin Nolan's tackle on Everton's Anichebe three months ago was "worse" and equally as ill-timed from a team perspective.  

Owen duly appeared in place of Martins - who had been indicating his desire to depart since before half time and was duly booed by some Newcastle fans - while Carroll sat down and Kevin Nolan was introduced instead.

Lucas meanwhile replaced Alonso, who disappeared down the tunnel on a stretcher. And within eight minutes of his arrival, the Brazilian midfielder scored his first Premier League goal with ease to see his side score three times for the fifth successive game - a feat they last achieved back in 1979.

Michael Owen did manage one shot on goal, but an attempted lob failed to clear Reina and an offside flag looked to have been raised - his major contribution on an afternoon when he didn't even warrant any wagging from his former fans.

There was then just time for Steven Gerrard to rattle Harper's crossbar for a third time before the final whistle blew, on an afternoon when Liverpool never looked remotely in danger of losing an unbeaten home league record that now stretches to 29 games.

And still just one goal scored during his five matches in charge, Alan Shearer applauded the efforts of the away fans before making for the away dressing room, their chants of "Shearer get your boots on" ringing in his ears.

This was an entirely expected setback on a ground when better Newcastle sides than this have been beaten as comprehensively and after Shay Given single-handedly kept the score down at SJP, credit is due to Steve Harper for doing his bit this time out. However if we had to pick a Newcastle man of the match, it would probably be the goal frames.....

But while we were immeasurably behind Liverpool in the skill, guile and confidence stakes, to be lacking in work rate and organisation is infinitely more depressing - Kuyt on his own working harder than our entire front line. Regardless of the opposition, Shearer is entitled to be asking for - and receiving - more than he's getting currently.

If anyone had turned up at Anfield unaware of the fact that over 40 points separated these two sides, then casual observation of our warm-up routine would have given a clue as to the lack of basic proficiency - Newcastle's laughable attempt at shooting practice about on a par with the most useless of the fan groups who do the "It's a Knockout" type kick-in on Soccer AM.  

The action now moves on to SJP on Monday week, with United facing a smoggy side equally desperate for a win - but knowing that Hull City will have played twice by then. (Monday at Villa then Saturday at home to Stoke).

On the 20th anniversary of our last relegation though, the chances of avoiding another demotion were hardly enhanced by the scoreline, our collective performance or the buffoonery of a certain individual.

If we have to go down to the Championship to rid ourselves of the clowns and conmen that pollute the dressing room, that might not be the end of the world. Sunday also brought news of Birmingham joining Wolves in the top flight next season, while Barnsley remained in the Championship at the expense of Norwich - that's at least one bloody awful trip off the list were we to fall...

Biffa

 

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Page last updated 09 February, 2017