Yesterday Newcastle United humiliated their former manager, Kenny Dalglish, and his Liverpool side at St. James’ Park. Clueless “King” Kenny watched as his side slumped to a 2-0 defeat and finished the game with ten men.
The game was billed as the decider for a top six finish, with Newcastle beginning the game eight points clear of Liverpool. It also saw the returns of Jose Enrique and Andy Carroll to St. James’ Park. Another former Magpie, Craig Bellamy, also started for Liverpool.
Jose Enrique left St. James’ under a bitter cloud after publicly criticising the club’s transfer policy on Twitter. He stated “This club will never again fight to be among the top 6 again with this policy” after claiming Newcastle were letting all of their major players go. Has anybody actually missed Jose though? We started the season with Ryan Taylor at left-back and he was superb. His goals against Everton and more specifically the free-kick against Sunderland have helped make him a fan’s favourite. While Davide Santon has struggled to settle in and failed to impress, I still believe we have gotten by just fine without Enrique and guess what Jose…
We’re in the top six!
Andy Carroll cut a pretty miserable figure on his return too. He was constantly booed and looked a shadow of the player he was when he played in black and white. I didn’t boo Andy Carroll though, I still like him and Liverpool are my third favourite team, after The Toon and Everton. I also like Bellamy because he’s an absolute dick-head, but he has the swagger to be able to carry off being a dick-head. I just don’t like Kenny Dalglish because he ruined us when he was our manager, and I don’t like Enrique because I’ve always thought he was overrated and arrogant.
Liverpool started the game the livelier of the two sides. A Jonjo Shelvey shot was deflected just over the cross-bar early on and a Martin Skrtel header went over the top before one of the game’s big talking points. Andy Carroll got the better of Mike Williamson and looked to have rounded Tim Krul before taking a tumble inside the Newcastle penalty area. He was booked for diving and that epitomised what was a very bad afternoon for Andy Carroll. If he hadn’t have dived then he was round Tim Krul with an easy finish, even though it was on his wrong foot.
Liverpool continued to press and Tim Krul was forced into a brilliant save when he tipped a deflected Craig Bellamy cross onto the bar as he continues to impress in between the sticks for The Toon. I still stand by my claims that Tim Krul will become better than Peter Schmeichel ever was. The visitors from Merseyside also had a very good shout for a penalty waved away after Danny Simpson made yet another goal line clearance, only this time with his arm.
The first goal came in the 19th minute. Hatem Ben Arfa, enjoying possibly his best form since joining Newcastle, got the better of the Liverpool defence before his perfectly weighted cross found Papiss Cisse in acres of space at the back post, leaving Cisse with a simple header to put The Toon in front. It was brilliant work by both Ben Arfa, who really seems to be finding his feet now, and Cisse, who’s positioning was outstanding. I’m still not convinced that Papiss Cisse is fully settled in yet, although he is a natural born goal-scorer. I think the best of Cisse is still to come!
Cisse also came close to doubling his tally near the end of the first half when he directed a header just wide of Pepe Reina’s post from a Danny Guthrie cross. The teams went down the tunnel at half-time with The Toon leading but one goal.
At half-time Me Fatha asked me what we needed to do to make sure that we won this game. I simply replied, “Score another goal.”
In the second half a Newcastle side full of confidence overshadowed a dejected Liverpool side and almost doubled their lead within minutes of the restart when Mike Williamson hit the post with a header.
Papiss Cisse made it 2-0 in the 59th minute when he again found himself in plenty of space with an easy back post tap in after some brilliant Newcastle build-up play typical of a side brimming in confidence.
Tim Krul made a rare mistake just after the hour which allowed Luis Suarez a free chance on goal but another in form Newcastle player, James Perch, made a crucial block.
Things went from bad to worse for Kenny Dalglish’s side in the 81st minute. Mike Williamson had another header on goal, which this time was saved by Pepe Reina. As Reina ran out with the ball James Perch tripped the Liverpool goalkeeper. The reaction of Pepe Reina was that of a stroppy child, he confronted Perch and head-butted him. Perch over dramatised the matter, which seems commonplace in the Premier League these days, and threw himself to the ground. There was a bit of fracas with players from both sides involved before the referee took control of the situation and rightly showed Perch a yellow card before sending Pepe Reina off. Reina’s petulance continued as he didn’t leave the pitch in a hurry only serving to run down the clock. He continued to shout at James Perch as he left the field and appeared to be saying that more would come after the match. It was all very petty stuff from the embarrassed goalkeeper. Reina’s sending off meant that Jose Enrique was forced into seeing out the remainder of the game in goal for Liverpool as Kenny Dalglish had already used all of his substitutes.
The matched finished 2-0 and Newcastle extended their lead over Liverpool to eleven points, tied on points with fifth-placed Chelsea and ten points clear of Everton in seventh place. That almost certainly guarantees us a top six finish. So much for Jose Enrique!
Liverpool look to be a club on the slide, whereas Newcastle are a club on the rise. Andy Carroll has failed to find his form and Kenny Dalglish is now coming under fire. Newcastle can take positives from the performances of certain players in recent games and now have some momentum going into Friday’s game at Swansea, after winning our last two games. Hatem Ben Arfa followed up his Man of the Match performance against West Brom with another brilliant display and was involved in creating both of Papiss Cisse’s goals. Cisse again showed his killer touch and his brilliant positioning play with the two goals. James Perch was outstanding again, as he has been in recent games and looks as though he is constantly improving. For me James Perch was the Man of the Match.
GEORDIE BOYS TAKING PAPISS!
WHAT MALLAZ IS SAYING! 