A fair result, that. Liverpool controlled matters save for a spirited flurry either side of half-time by Newcastle, who should certainly have had a penalty and came close through Ayoze Perez’s well-saved header. But Brendan Rodgers’ side, hit by injuries at the moment, did enough and Raheem Sterling – who broke the deadlock with a fine goal – should have gone home with a hat-trick. It keeps Liverpool on the tails of the Champions League sides; Newcastle didn’t phone this one in, to be fair, but just don’t have a lot of quality and have the added complication of a one-match ban for Sissoko looming. They could do with a result now – that’s five defeats in a row for them.
Anyway, that’ll be all for tonight. Thanks for your company, it’s appreciated as ever. Enjoy the rest of your evening!
Updated
Full-time – Liverpool 2-0 Newcastle
Routine stuff, in the end.
90+4 min: It’s in a great area for Ryan Taylor’s right foot, but his effort sails over.
90+3 min: Good little dribble from Cabella as we near the close, and he’s fouled on the edge of the box by Lucas.
90 min: Moreno is booked after a fairly cynical foul on Gouffran, who had sprung onto a poor pass from Coutinho inside the Newcastle half. We will have four added minutes here.
89 min: Rickie Lambert now replaces Sterling, which won’t matter much either. But Sterling is applauded warmly, which doesn’t suggest too much bad blood from his contract wranglings.
87 min: Sissoko, who had played quite well, will now miss Newcastle’s game with Spurs. Gouffran has just replaced Perez by the way, but that won’t matter at all.
85 min: Sterling with another big miss now! Henderson with yet another fine right-footed delivery and, arriving on his own inside the area, he tries to take it on the half-volley. Harder than his first chance, but then so are most chances. High and wide it goes.
Red card – Moussa Sissoko (84 min)
That’s it for Newcastle now. The midfielder goes in high and stampily on Lucas’ right shin – it’s nasty actually and could have been a straight red – and does not wait around for his second yellow. If his first booking was a bit harsh, this one was possibly worth two.
Updated
82 min: Fifa 2015 update from Graeme Hull – “I tried it again but for some reason 4 of my players just stopped running and 3 others gave interviews while on the pitch, saying that while they were fully committed to Newcastle, they wanted to move to a ‘big club’ to further their career.”
81 min: This one almost results in a goal, Williamson doing just enough to deter Lovren at the back post and Lucas seeing an effort blocked in front of the line.
81 min: Coutinho produces an outrageous flick-up and jabbed pass for Sterling, managing to do both with the same foot and in the same motion. A corner is won and Newcastle eventually have to concede another.
79 min: Good from Liverpool as Johnson and Coutinho play a one-two but the right-back cannot quite play Borini in. Krul has to dive upon Janmaat’s slightly wayward interception.
78 min: Sissoko and Johnson have a few handbags after the former tries to retrieve the ball for a throw-in. Both are booked, rather pettily.
Updated
76 min: Armstrong is fouled by Can straightaway. He is a sharp, lively young customer but he and his team probably have too much to do here.
75 min: Newcastle make another change, Adam Armstrong replacing Abeid.
72 min: Nearly three, as Lovren beats Williamson to another right-sided Coutinho corner and thunders a header a foot over. Liverpool have stepped things right up in the last 15 minutes and their two-goal lead is just reward.
Updated
Goal! Liverpool 2-0 Newcastle (Allen 70)
That might be that. The corner is cleared out to Sterling, who finds Can, who hooks the ball towards the six-yard box. It comes off Williamson rather limply and Allen, quick as a flash, seizes upon the loose ball to lash into the roof of the net! Two-nil!
Updated
69 min: Williamson fluffs a clearance under the attention of Borini and the Italian sets off down the right. He takes a touch too many when a shot or a cross towards Sterling would have worked, and Krul comes out to block for a corner...after which....
Updated
67 min: Oh that’s very nice indeed. The Liverpool supporters rise as one to welcome Gutierrez. Ryan Taylor returns the kind gesture by slicing a volley wide shortly after the corner.
67 min: Yes, Newcastle’s fire has dimmed a bit and Liverpool enjoy a bit of camping inside their half until Krul gathers a cross. And he then sets in train a counter from Obertan, who wins a corner.....and is promptly replaced by Jonas Gutierrez and shakes his head at the realisation.
64 min: Borini cranes to head a Lucas chip back to Allen, but can’t quite get the purchase. Then Sterling, whose miss some might say was no laughing matter, is robbed by Colback.
63 min: Can to Henderson, whose first-time cross is little trouble for Krul. Liverpool rediscovering a measure of control for the moment.
61 min: In the meantime, Liverpool have a corner but Janmaat heads Coutinho’s ball away. It’s eventually worked back to Coutinho on the left; he jinks inside and his low, hard shot is gathered by Krul.
Updated
61 min: Lou Roper laments a Liverpool absentee – “The Liverpool performance in this match provides further endorsement of the view that Skrtel has been our player of the season for all of the excitement/furore over Sterling, Coutinho, et al. He is 30 years old: who will replace him? The GBP 20 million waste that is Lovren?”
60 min: Cabella almost picks out the surging run of Sissoko, but Lovren makes a vital interception. Then Colback does much the same as Allen seeks Sterling.
59 min: Ibe off, Borini – yes, Borini, in his first appearance since 4 February – on for Liverpool. Ibe has been fairly quiet.
58 min: Newcastle may be further invigorated by that let-off, but Abeid is well off target with a true strike from 20 yards after Colback’s tee-up.
57 min: What a miss from Sterling! Oh my word. Henderson’s low centre from the right is completely, disastrously miskicked by Taylor and it falls absolutely perfectly for Sterling, six yards out and looking Krul in the eyes. He plants his left foot upon it – and shoots wide! Wow. Had to score.
Updated
56 min: Justin Kavanagh speculates – “We knew things were grim at Liverpool of late, but when you have to discipline players for wanting laughing gas, maybe the plot been lost. Or maybe young Raheem was seeking the same ‘helicopter view’ of life that his manager used to bang on about.”
55 min: Sissoko then wins a fair physical tussle with Can and, although he is dispossessed as he marauds forward, that kind of sums up the way of things at the moment. Newcastle have come out fighting.
Updated
53 min: Newcastle are really taking the game to Liverpool now and a clever flick by Obertan releases Sissoko into a pocket of space just beyond the left corner of the area. His daisycutter is dived upon by Mignolet.
Updated
52 min: After some shenanigans between Sissoko and Moreno delay matters, Taylor takes an outswinging corner but Johnson thwacks it away.
51 min: Another sortie from Newcastle, which stems from a poor kick out by Mignolet. Cabella arrows a cross towards Perez from the right and the goalkeeper has to be out sharply to paw it away. Newcastle win a corner moments later and it finds Abeid at the back stick. His shot is blocked. Then Newcastle come yet again and win an iffy-looking flag kick off Lovten.
Updated
49 min: Can has a knock now – ankle I think – after colliding with Lucas when challenging Obertan for that header. He’s having treatment and looks a bit pained, but limps up and I think he’ll continue.
48 min: Confident stuff from Newcastle though as an Abeid flick finds Perez nicely and Lucas has to concede the corner. It’s half-cleared by Lovren and put back in by Perez but Obertan’s header is well wide.
Updated
46 min: Early probing from Liverpool but eventually Sterling, chasing a ball to the line, fouls Colback.
Peeeep! Back underway!
Liverpool do the honours this time.
Paul Devlin – not the ex-Birmingham forward I presume – has another take on the penalty shout:
“Having watched replay after replay, I’m far from convinced that Lovren actually made any contact with Perez. There seems to be clear air between both player’s legs. That said, I thought that trying to kick someone was enough to allow the referee to award a penalty, intent being key.”
John Carver was prevented from talking to Lee Mason as the teams went off by an insistently-placed police officer, by the way.
Updated
Yes, as I was saying, a strange half. Slow start, then a fine goal by Sterling and 20 minutes of near-incessant Liverpool attacking that could and should have seen them nick another goal or two. From nowhere, Newcastle really should have had a penalty when Lovren clearly fouled Perez and they ended the half the stronger, the willing Perez seeing a header superbly saved and Abeid slashing over. From looking as if this might turn into another of their roll-over-and-die performances, Newcastle may still be in this one....
Half-time: Liverpool 1-0 Newcastle.
A strange half.
Updated
45+1 min: Save from Mignolet! Newcastle play some nice, patient stuff and the ball is eventually worked back to Janmaat, whose dink into the box is fairly straight but aimed accurately for Perez, 12 yards out, who still has a fair bit to do but twists and loops a very good header towards goal....clawed out of his top right corner by Mignolet!
Then Newcastle come again and Sissoko cuts back from the right for Abeid, who takes a swipe at goal and should perhaps do better than shoot over!
44 min: Newcastle do look more purposeful now though and Johnson has to clear a Taylor cross. 1-0 at half-time would not be so bad for them, in all.
43 min: If Lee Mason wasn’t to give a penalty for that Lovren foul, shouldn’t he have booked Perez for a dive? Poor decision – the more you see it, the more it looks a clear penalty.
41 min: Lucas than wafts a leg at Obertan and you can hear the intake of breath around Anfield as he does so. Doesn’t go down though. Newcastle still feel aggrieved at that earlier call and Carver is still talking to the fourth official.
40 min: The visitors would have been even angrier if Ibe had scored just then. He receives the ball on the right, gets half a yard and blasts the ball wide. John Carver is currently haranguing the fourth official about that penalty call.
Updated
38 min: Did Lovren get lucky there? Newcastle make some inroads and the defender waves a leg at Perez inside the area. He’s nowhere near the ball and...well....I’ve just seen the replay, that should be a penalty, no? Perez may have gone down a bit easily but there is clearly contact.
Updated
37 min: News just in from our very own Andy Hunter:
A Liverpool spokesperson has commented on a breaking story concerning Raheem Sterling allegedly inhaling nitrous oxide - laughing gas to you and me. Sterling, pictured in the Sunday Mirror yesterday allegedly smoking a shisha pipe, has also been filmed allegedly inhaling the legal high at a party. A club spokesperson has said: “We are aware of the story and intend to speak to the player. Any subsequent action will be taken internally.” Brendan Rodgers will address the matter further in his post-match press conference.
36 min: What a save/what a miss! Henderson puts in a superb delivery from a right-sided free-kick and Lucas – who is actually flagged offside so it wouldn’t have counted – gets a free header away that Krul superbly repels one-handed to his left.
35 min: Coutinho overcomplicated things after Sterling finds him in the left-sided pocket that Newcastle just haven’t been able to close down. He checks inside, as Sterling did earlier, and should probably shoot for goal but tries to pass and the chance goes.
33 min: This time it’s Sissoko striding down the right for Newcastle, and his low cross – again aimed at Perez – just beats him on the stretch. Liverpool’s whirlwind has calmed down a tad.
31 min: The visitors try to put a few passes together but Taylor gives the ball away to Lucas. Liverpool are making no such errors at the moment.
28 min: Newcastle haven’t really got near Liverpool for 15 minutes but the ball breaks to Obertan on the right and he can stretch his legs. Eventually he crosses towards Perez, and it’s cleared as far as Abeid on the edge of the area. He makes reasonably good contact on the volley but it’s straight at Mignolet.
26 min: Slid cutely by Henderson, who had shaped to shoot, down the right side of the wall to the alert Coutinho, whose shot needs to be blocked by Perez. Then Sterling makes some more space and Krul saves his shot. Liverpool are rampant at the moment.
Updated
25 min: Sterling is fouled just outside the area by Williamson. Free-kick....
24 min: Sterling in space again as Coutinho weaves a lovely ball through to him in a similar position from the one that resulted in a goal. This time he snatches at a first-time cross-shot and it’s into the arms of Krul.
22 min: But Liverpool are well in control now and passing the ball about confidently. Moreno is playing like a winger on that left flank and swings another tempting ball in that Anita heads away.
Then a chance! Liverpool take the throw-in and Coutinho works the ball beautifully past Williamson and is in on goal....but tries to centre to his left for Sterling, who isn’t actually there. Should have shot.
21 min: Better from Newcastle as Abeid finds Sissoko, who finds Perez on the byline. He twists well to cross from the left but it’s over the head of Obertan.
20 min: Accuracy eludes Henderson when attempting a left-sided free-kick in a decent area, which is easily dealt with by Krul.
18 min: Liverpool are finding a lot of space in front of the Newcastle back four now and Henderson, appearing in a threatening position again, only just overhits a slide-rule ball that would have put Sterling in the clear.
Updated
17 min: Moreno and Sterling seem to have the numbers of Obertan and Taylor on that left side now, and the former puts in a cross that Janmaat has to intercept. Then Williamson has to get across sharply to stop Coutinho running onto a Lucas through ball.
15 min: Graeme Hull, Newcastle fan: “As a Newcastle fan, you take your pleasures where you can – I just played this game on Fifa 15 and managed to beat Liverpool 8-0. Admittedly it was on the beginner setting, but somehow that seemed appropriate.”
I’d have another go, Graeme, and shoot for more. Your team has been at sixes and sevens since conceding.
Updated
13 min: Moreno comes close-ish for Liverpool, running onto a fine Lovren ball forwards and, from a tight angle on the left, getting a shot in that Krul beats away. Newcastle don’t really clear and Henderson nearly brings the ball down inside the box moments later. If he had, there’d have been a clear chance.
12 min: Newcastle try to battle back but Mignolet claims Taylor’s cross. How will they respond? Sterling’s goal came from Liverpool’s first attack.
Updated
Goal! Liverpool 1-0 Newcastle (Sterling 9)
That, though, was brilliant. Henderson is allowed time, midway inside the Newcastle half, to play a radar-like right-to-left pass for Sterling on the left side of the area. He controls it superbly, cuts onto his right foot, isn’t really challenged by Taylor or Obertan – and Newcastle did have plenty of bodies in attendance – and picks his spot. Beyond the despairing leap of Krul, diving to his left, it goes...and into the far corner!
Updated
8 min: Anita crosses with his right foot but it’s nowhere near Perez. It’s not particularly high praise but Newcastle have started slightly the better.
7 min: No striker on the pitch for Liverpool, really. Sterling has started on the left, Ibe right, Coutinho withdrawn in the middle.
5 min: ....which is flicked away by the head of Can.
5 min: Pretty cagey early stuff, this, but Newcastle certainly getting close to Liverpool, who claim a free-kick when Williamson muscles Sterling off the ball but nothing is given. Then Newcastle counter and a Cabella shot deflects off Lucas for a corner....
3 min: Can tries to bring the ball out from the back but Sissoko sets about earning his corn, Carver-style, by recovering to dispossess him.
2 min: Vurnon Anita is Newcastle’s left-back tonight, by the way – Colback having moved back into midfield.
2 min: Little of note has happened yet but Newcastle, led in the midfield press by Colback, are snapping at a heel or two.
Peeeeeeeep! Newcastle get us going.
And let’s hope their performance does too.
An impeccably observed minute’s silence having been completed, we are just about ready to go.
The teams are on the pitch. You’ll Never Walk Alone – which still gets me every time, sucker that I am – is being sung.
Updated
On Wednesday it will be 26 years since the Hillsborough disaster. Wreaths have been laid at Anfield and the players are wearing black armbands. There will also be a minute’s silence before we get underway.
@NickAmes82 LFC a big Club?tonight opposition had 15k more at a Testimonial for their reserve Goal Keeper,than the Anfield average gate
— michael moore (@tomlorrigan) April 13, 2015
Go on somebody, bite. Or just tell me why David Cameron is on Michael Moore’s – not that one – Twitter pic.
Updated
Peter Oh writes in:
“Moussa is excellent with the French guys” does not exactly exude rock-solid team unity, although I must admit I haven’t seen this many Frenchmen in a castle, in an English production, since Monty Python and the Holy Grail.”
Legacy of Alain Depardieux, who is doing a fantastic job at Palace and did ok at Newcastle all told, but whose recruitment a couple of winters back probably hampered the team all told.
John Carver says his three changes were indeed “a reaction” to last weekend’s indignation and is particularly looking forward to seeing Jack Colback in his preferred midfield role. “We’re not going to be here just defending,” he adds.
Brendan Rodgers says he is looking for a continuation of the level shown during last week’s FA Cup win at Blackburn.
David Flynn kicks off tonight’s emails on a that’s-the-spirit kind of note:
“Yesterday I was totally disgusted at Yaya Toure for not feeling he had to run to justify his enormous weekly wages. Today I feel total sympathy for an Liverpool side shorn of confidence and having to play this dreadful Newcastle team on a dreary Monday night. Large wages and privileged lifestyle or not, I sense this won’t be a game full of urgency.”
David speaks only for the players, I hasten to say. I just sprinted back here from the canteen in order to read and reproduce that.
Some pre-match reading from Louise Taylor on how John Carver wants more from Moussa Sissoko:
The captain is your leader and what people don’t see is that Moussa is excellent with the French guys,” Carver said. “He keeps them in check, he is the enforcer, which is good. Sometimes you give extra responsibilities to players and they thrive, sometimes they freeze. I’ve seen Moussa have excellent games as captain but he had one of his quieter games against Sunderland.
So Emre Can and Jordan Ibe come back into the Liverpool team for the injured Mamadou Sakho and Daniel Sturridge. Mario Balotelli does not make it either.
John Carver wields the knife (like a carving knife! Carver! Carving knife!), meanwhile, upon Jonas Gutierrez, Yoann Gouffran and Sammy Ameobi, replacing them in the starting lineup with Mehdi Abeid, Gabriel Obertan and Vurnon Anita.
The Newcastle team
#NUFC at @LFC: Krul, R.Taylor, Janmaat, Williamson, Colback, Anita, Abeid, Sissoko, Cabella, Obertan, Perez.
— Newcastle United FC (@NUFC) April 13, 2015
#NUFC subs at @LFC: Elliot, Sterry, Gouffran, Gutierrez, Ameobi, Armstong, Riviere.
— Newcastle United FC (@NUFC) April 13, 2015
The Liverpool team
Confirmed #LFC team v @NUFC: Mignolet, Johnson, Can, Lovren, Moreno, Allen, Lucas, Henderson, Ibe, Coutinho, Sterling
— Liverpool FC (@LFC) April 13, 2015
Confirmed #LFC subs v @NUFC: Jones, Toure, Lambert, Manquillo, Borini, Brannagan, Markovic
— Liverpool FC (@LFC) April 13, 2015
Evening all
Liverpool. Newcastle. A Monday night. It can only mean much more of this.
That, of course, is not true. We’d be relying on a few things for it to happen again. We’d need Liverpool, so chirpy and upwardly-mobile until a couple of weeks ago, to cast off the disappointment of those deserved defeats to Manchester United and Arsenal and convince themselves that a place in the Europa League would be pretty nice after all. We’d also need Newcastle not to phone this one in. What’s the bigger ask?
You’d hope that these two will be spurred by some form of urgency. The wind might have gone from Liverpool’s sails but they would go fifth with a win and that would take them four points (although effectively two wins given their inferior goal difference) behind Manchester City. With Pellegrini and company/Kompany in freefall, could there be another chapter in the top-four story to come? You can bet that Brendan Rodgers will be telling his team so.
Newcastle...well...kings of the no-show that they are, it’s probably best to expect little from this one. But they could probably do with one more win to ease any faint relegation fears that may have crept in after four consecutive defeats, the most recent of them being the spawn of that completely lifeless performance in the derby at Sunderland eight days ago. It would be heartening to see some cojones from them.
Perhaps that would take us closer to the glory days of ‘97, which of course directly followed the glory days of ‘96. This fixture was certainly flogged to death as a sure-fire white-knuckle ride after those two wonderful games, to the extent that it became slightly awkward when the narrative stayed the same despite the fixture having long since stopped delivering. Others have put it better than me. But let’s be optimistic. This one’s going to be another classic. So stay close.
