Lineups

Tiote returned to the Newcastle midfield after recovering from injury, and Gutierrez dropped to left back alongside Perch at centreback. The lineup for the home side suggested either a Ba/Cissé partnership up front, or a more reserved approach with Ba dropping to the left and Ben Arfa playing at inside right.

Liverpool started with former Newcastle players in Enrique and Carroll, but with inexperience at right back and in central midfield with Flanagan and Shelvey. Carroll led a forward line also including Bellamy (another Newcastle alumni) and Suarez, but no dedicated wingers to provide crosses to the £35mn man.

Match

The match started quite brightly, with little control in midfield and an end-to-end feel to proceedings. Newcastle looked the more threatening, absorbing periods of Liverpool pressure only to break with pace, particularly through Ba in behind Flanagan on the left as the young right back pushed forward in support of his team’s attacking effort. It was obvious in the first ten minutes that this would be a fertile avenue to explore for Newcastle unless Dalglish either restricted his right back or instructed Spearing to fill in.

There were three penalty shouts in the first ten minutes, of which the referee got two correct. Firstly Ben Arfa got in behind Enrique and the Liverpool man tugged him back by his shirt for maybe 10 yards, until Ben Arfa tumbled and the referee incorrectly waved play on. Secondly, Carroll picked up his own flick-on and emerged into a one-on-one with Krul. He rounded the keeper and then decided to dive in search of a penalty rather than tap the ball into the empty net. It was an inexplicable decision (for which he rightly received a yellow card), and only succeeded in getting the home crowd on his back even more. The final, more muted shout was for a ricochet which was cleared off the line by Williamson’s shoulder.

Newcastle took the lead thanks to some sloppy defending which has been prevalent at Liverpool in recent weeks. Ben Arfa was able to turn Spearing with ease, and was then left to take all the time he wanted to get his head up and pick out a cross to the back post, where Skrtel had drifted five yards behind the rest of his back four, allowing a ball drifted over his head to be nodded in by Cissé. A real lack of concentration all round by the away side, but it still required a quality cross and excellent header back across Reina.

The penalty shout that wasn’t given, and the period of play leading up to the goal demonstrated the success that Ben Arfa was enjoying up against Enrique. Despite being substantially left footed, Liverpool allowed him to cut inside and look to cross on several occasions, yet he was also able to successfully take on the former Newcastle man on the outside too. Enrique wasn’t being protected enough by those in front of him, and although the standard approach would be to show the left footer onto his wrong foot, Enrique’s lack of pace meant that was a dangerous approach too.

The goal seemed to deflate Liverpool, who had worked the ball into some dangerous positions in the first phase of the game, if never troubling Krul. On several occasions they reached good crossing positions on the right, but Bellamy and Gerrard wasted these with poor balls towards Carroll. Newcastle on the other hand continued to look dangerous; Ba saw a shot deflected just wide, before Cissé nearly doubled the lead with a header just past the post after Shelvey had politely kept the ball in play for Newcastle.

The tale of the first half was right wing crosses. Liverpool were able to get into good crossing positions on the right on several occasions, as Gutierrez was playing out of position at left back and Ba was ordered to stay upfield to take advantage of Flanagan pushing up. This often left Bellamy and Flanagan in a two-on-one against Gutierrez, but the final ball was poor. On Newcastle’s right wing, Ben Arfa was having plenty of success up against Enrique as noted above.

The right wing was fertile ground for both sides, but Newcastle’s crossing was much better than Liverpool’s

Shortly after halftime there was a clear indication of Liverpool’s problems. Shelvey picked the ball up on the edge of the centre circle and, seeing zero movement from any of his teammates, drove towards the Newcastle penalty area and produced a shot on target. At many clubs that would be seen as an attempt to seize control of the match and drive his team forward, shifting momentum towards his teammates. Instead, Shelvey was berated by Gerrard for not passing to his captain, who he had taken the ball past on his way towards the Newcastle penalty box. It’s hardly an environment conducive to letting the younger players take responsibility for the good of the team as a whole, and is a symptom of the malaise at this club, where there seems to be a hierarchy in the playing staff which prevents the younger players from expressing themselves.

This event came just before Cissé made it 2-0 to Newcastle. Some neat work around the Liverpool penalty area found Cissé at the far post, where he cut inside Reina, steadied himself and placed the ball in the bottom corner. Cissé had been several yards offside when the ball had been played, but the officials must have judged that the Newcastle player in the centre of goal got a faint touch on the ball, restarting the attacking phase, otherwise the goal should have been disallowed.

Dalglish brought on Downing after 75 minutes, finally introducing a man who could potentially provide some decent crosses, something which had been missing for the away side all match long. However, he brought off Carroll four minutes later, nullifying the change somewhat. It would matter little, as Reina reacted to a trip by Perch (for which the Newcastle man correctly received a yellow card) by pushing his head into Perch’s face and getting a straight red card. It was pure idiocy from the Liverpool man and meant that Enrique would complete his first game back at the Sports Direct Arena in goal.

Conclusions

Newcastle did everything required of them. Their weakened back four kept a clean sheet, and going forward they looked dangerous with Ba’s runs on the left and Ben Arfa’s crosses from the right. Cissé continued to impress with a brace of goals. Newcastle are now level on points with Chelsea and looking more assured than ever of European football next season.

Liverpool started brightly, then faded rapidly. They failed to make use of a clear opportunity to cause Newcastle problems, exposing Gutierrez but being unable to cross well. When Dalglish eventually brought on a winger, he removed his target man in an odd contradiction. Reina will now be suspended for three matches after a silly reaction, but Liverpool’s problems run much deeper than that, now sitting eighth in the table and a point behind Everton with seven matches remaining.