Well that was easy. We didn’t even need a striker to beat Newcastle, they’ve just completely quit on this season. We needed a game like this as we’ve got some important players out and a huge semi final coming up. All things considered this was the ideal preparation as the players didn’t really have to break sweat to win this. It’s a good job we weren’t playing anyone decent though as the team we put out there doesn’t inspire me with a great deal of confidence.
With Sturridge injured again and Balotelli still unwell (what actually is wrong him with? He seems to have been ill on and off for weeks) Rodgers declined the option of starting Lambert or Borini and instead played Coutinho up front. Except he wasn’t really up front. I hate myself for even using this pretentious, hipster term, but he was the very definition of a *spits on floor* “false nine”. With Ibe and Sterling pushed right up in the wide positions it was an unusual set up and it proved too much for Newcastle, although they recently lost to Sunderland so it’s hard to imagine a set up that wouldn’t be too much for them.
A lot of our build up play was pleasing on the eye but the lack of any penalty box presence meant much of it came to nothing. We did enough though, which is the main thing. The first goal was nicely executed; lovely ball from the outstanding Henderson, great first touch by Sterling out wide and then he did well to make space for himself and curl the ball into the net. You could see the relief in him too as it’s been a pretty bad couple of weeks for him with one thing or another. It’s all been of his own making of course, him and his agent anyway, but he is still just a kid and it’s not pleasant seeing the mess he’s ended up in.
He wants a song from the Kop and if he’d said that a couple of months ago he’d have had a point. His timing was lousy on that one though. He got a song from the small away following, predictably it involved the words “greedy” and “bastard”. His name was finally chanted by the Kop in the first half too, but it wasn’t quite what he’d been hoping for. “Raheem Sterling, your agent’s a knob” was belted out by a small group in the Kop. It didn’t exactly ring around the stadium and in truth not many joined in, but it grew louder the next time it was aired in the second half. He may not have even heard it, but word will probably have got back to him by now. I doubt it will make a difference to how he views his agent sadly.
All things considered the fans were great to him I’d say. He missed an absolute sitter right in front of the Kop but the reaction was remarkably tolerant considering the lack of patience shown towards him in other recent home games. In a way all this negative attention has probably helped him with the crowd, the fans aren’t wanting to pile on him and realise he needs support. Like it or not, we need him between now and May if we’re to achieve anything, so may as well try and lift his sprits. He missed another good chance later on - not as easy this time to be fair - but again the crowd didn’t turn on him. So much so that Rodgers cleverly opted to bring him off just before the end so he’d be given a standing ovation. Typical Rodgers move that, very smart. Let the kid know despite all the crap that’s gone on the fans still back him. He obviously wants to keep Sterling and something like this can only help.
Back to the game though, having gone in front we should have quickly put Newcastle away as they’re awful. We let them hang around though and but for our old mate Lee Mason they may have drew level before half time. I genuinely couldn’t believe what I was seeing when he didn’t give a penalty after Lovren volleyed Ayoze Perez up in the air. Everyone around me groaned when it happened as it was as clear a penalty as you’ll ever see. What was weird is that Newcastle’s players didn’t appeal and even afterwards Perez didn’t really complain about it either. We were all just laughing, I mean how blatant does a penalty have to be before it’s given?
All joking aside though, Lovren continues to be a worry. For almost all of the game he did his job well, but there was that blatant pen and in the second half he inexplicably headed the ball straight to a Newcastle player when under no pressure. He got way with that too, but against better sides and with a more competent referee he won’t be so lucky. Playing well for 89 minutes is no good if you’re a centre back or a goalkeeper, you need to be mistake free. Titus Bramble often looked great until the inevitable howler that undid all his good work. Lovren is playing better than he was but he is still too reckless and prone to mistakes. If he is ever able to cut that out he’ll be a good player. Big IF though at the moment.
How the hell did Mason not give that though, usually he doesn’t need any excuse to kick us in the nuts yet this was an even bigger open goal for him than the one Sterling missed. Pretty sure Kevin Friend did us a favour recently too. That’s some apocalyptic shit going on there.
Aside from the penalty scare the only other time Newcastle came close to an equaliser was when Mignolet needed to make a fine save to deny Perez. The young Spaniard was the one Newcastle player who looked like he was up for the fight but he had such little support that Emre Can and Lovren were almost always in control of him. That’s not to say we always had control of the game because we didn’t. We had a rocky spell before half time and we were absolutely shocking for the first ten or fifteen minutes of the second half. A better team would have made that count but… well… y’know… John Carver’s Newcastle.
Allen made the game safe with a smart volley at the Kop end after some awful defending. That got Sterling off the hook after his incredible miss and then the sending off of Sissoko ended any remote hope Newcastle may have had of getting back into it. He’d been booked minutes earlier for a bit of nonsense with Johnson on the touchline. I don’t know what the hell Mason was playing at as initially he only booked Johnson for it and it looked like Sissoko only got booked for then rubbing Johnson’s nose in it, like a kid in school who’d got another lad in trouble and then gloated about it. Next thing he’s going right over the ball and into Lucas with a potential leg breaker.
Straight red all day, but Mason took the easy way out and gave a second yellow instead, meaning that Sissoko was sent off but will probably avoid a three match ban. It doesn’t impact on us in any way but it’s annoying seeing him get off so lightly as that was a proper shithouse tackle. If I recall correctly he did one on Allen that was even worse in the game at St James’ earlier in the season. I don’t think we even got a free-kick for that one. Probably Kevin Friend refereeing that day.
So in summary, the performance was decent enough and there were some good individual displays within it. It seemed like every chance we created came via Henderson and every moment of excitement came courtesy of Coutinho and his magical dancing feet. He’s an absolute joy to watch, he’d probably be my favourite player right now if I wasn’t so scared of getting hurt again when he inevitably fucks off to a club that actually genuinely aspires to win titles. Most of the others were quite good too. Then there was Glen Johnson. *sigh* He had a good first half but was all at sea for spells after the break and the crowd weren’t happy with him at all. Still, at least Moreno was decent enough on the opposite flank and that’s a bonus as he was really beginning to worry me of late.
He looks much more comfortable in a back four where he has Sterling ahead of him, but will we keep this set up now with Skrtel available again? I’m not sure I’d want to go up against Benteke and (fitness permitting) Agbonlahor on that big Wembley pitch with just two centre backs, especially if one of them is Lovren, but Moreno at wing back doesn’t work and there’s no-one to play on the other side either. I really like that 3-4-2-1 system but you need the right players to make it work and it doesn’t look like we have them, not in the wide spots anyway. Ibe is back now which will help but he was poor in this game and it was no surprise when he was subbed. It was his first game back of course and the run out will have done him good, but he’s cup tied anyway so even if he’d come back looking like a superstar it doesn’t make a difference for the Villa game. I’d be a lot happier if we actually had a striker fit for that game otherwise I think we could be in trouble.
Team: Mignolet; Johnson, Can, Lovren, Moreno; Lucas, Allen, Henderson; Ibe (Borini), Coutinho, Sterling (Lambert):
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