Featured: Strong Liverpool squad heads to Newcastle (ESPN article)

[tlw content]

by Dave Usher for ESPN

 

Whenever Liverpool make the trip up the North East to face Newcastle, it usually ends one of two ways: a narrow loss or a big win. There's rarely anything in between. The past 15 meetings between the sides at St James Park have seen the home side win six, the away side seven, with just two games drawn. Of those victories for the Reds, several have been of the thumping variety that have the home fans heading for the exits long before the full-time whistle blows.

Last season was the most recent example, as the shell-shocked Geordies were literally, as well as metaphorically, hit for six by a rampant Liverpool side. That was a result few saw coming as the Reds had been rocked in the buildup to the game with the news that Luis Suarez had been handed a whopping 10-match suspension after his, shall we say, "incident" with Branislav Ivanovic. It appeared to be the ideal time to face Brendan Rodgers' men, yet the Geordies ended up on the wrong end of a six-goal hammering as Daniel Sturridge and Philippe Coutinho ensured the feisty Uruguayan's absence was merely a footnote to what was a wonderful attacking performance.

Liverpool exploited the wide-open spaces of St James' and the home side's perennially high defensive line to perfection, with Sturridge and Jordan Henderson rampaging through at will and Coutinho providing the ammunition for them to fire. Liverpool's excellence on the day was beyond question, but without wanting to take anything away from the men in red, it has to be acknowledged that Newcastle were a disorganised, undisciplined mess and that contributed just as much to the unusual scoreline.

There have been other big wins for the Merseysiders at St James' too. In 2009 a Steven Gerrard-inspired Liverpool triumphed 5-1, while the previous year also saw a comfortable win for the Anfield side, as goals by Gerrard, Dirk Kuyt and Ryan Babel secured a 3-0 victory. Going back even further, who can forget the day when a teenage Michael Owen ran riot and scored a sensational hat trick in a 4-1 win over Ruud Gullit's side in 1998?

There have been several losses too of course, most recently when Pepe Reina was sent off as Kenny Dalglish's side crashed to a hugely disappointing 2-0 defeat in 2012. Another one that sticks in my mind was an absolute horror show on New Year's Day in 2003. Salif Diao was dismissed as a Laurent Robert free kick gave the home side the points. Liverpool were wretched that day and the result meant that Gerard Houllier's men had failed to win in 10 successive Premier League games (that run would reach 11 before a 1-0 win at Southampton stopped the rot). For the most part though, Liverpool tend to play well at Newcastle.

Read the full article here.

[Tony Moanero]

Newcastle 3-0 Liverpool (Andy Cole hat-trick, November 1993. Hard to believe that was almost 20 years ago! I remember listening to it on the radio, then watching the Match of the Day highlights - Grobbelaar was awful. From memory, wasn't that one of the games he was alleged to have thrown?

 

 

[dave u]

It was.  The United 3-3 was another one from what I remember.

[JohnnyH]

Another surprisingly good piece??? I’m weirdly starting to enjoy them.

[fowler9]

possibly the strongest match day squad we've had for years

 

 

my guess for the team would be

 

-----------------------Mignolet------------------------

--------------Toure---Skrtel---Sakho--------------

Johnson-----------------------------------Enrique

----------Henderson--Lucas--Gerrard----------

--------------Sturridge-------Suarez---------------

 

quite possibly Moses for Henderson and further forward

 

then a bench consisting of 7 of the following

 

Jones

Agger

Kelly

Wisdom

Cissokho

Ilori

Allen

Alberto

Sterling

Ibe

Moses

Aspas

 

obviously we've had stronger first XI's under Rafa etc but I can't remember ever having such strength in depth, just need Coutinho back and Aspas to find his feet and we're in a very good place squad wise I reckon

[JohnnyH]

Interesting.  So you've gone 442 I see.

[Pureblood]

Whilst i agree with Rodgers i'm not sure it was the right thing to say. We've been kicked in the nuts before when we've talked ourselves up. Need to win the game now otherwise we'll look a bit silly.

[Gnasher]

I hope this game is not a case of after the lord mayors parade for a lot of our players.

 

Stevie and sturridge having just had a massive game for england, suarez has been the other side of the world, Lucas played for brazil.

 

Brendan got to earn his money here and make sure they're not mentally tired.

[fowler9]

I hope this game is not a case of after the lord mayors parade for a lot of our players.

 

Stevie and sturridge having just had a massive game for england, suarez has been the other side of the world, Lucas played for brazil.

 

Brendan got to earn his money here and make sure they're not mentally tired.

 

more importantly he needs to make sure Sakho knows he is back from international duty and doesn't pass to all the French people or we're fucked

[dave u]

Whilst i agree with Rodgers i'm not sure it was the right thing to say. We've been kicked in the nuts before when we've talked ourselves up. Need to win the game now otherwise we'll look a bit silly.

 

Stuff like that shouldn't be relevant at all, and yet like you, I worry over it.  We've come a cropper loads of times whenever we've seemed to get a little bit too pleased with ourselves.  Remember the Villa home game last year?   

 

I hope this game is not a case of after the lord mayors parade for a lot of our players.

 

Stevie and sturridge having just had a massive game for england, suarez has been the other side of the world, Lucas played for brazil.

 

Brendan got to earn his money here and make sure they're not mentally tired.

 

The extra day the players get now due to games being played on a Tuesday seems to have helped a lot on that score I think.

[MLB]

If we don't run riot against the shitty defense they are fielding I will be very disappointed.

 

The only dilemma for me is if Lucas comes back in or not. On the one hand we need someone to shut down Cabaye (their best player by far) but on the other hand Henderson definitely deserves to play. I can't see Moses missing out so I'm going to say Lucas on the bench for this one and just go right at them.

[Major Tom]

Whilst i agree with Rodgers i'm not sure it was the right thing to say. We've been kicked in the nuts before when we've talked ourselves up. Need to win the game now otherwise we'll look a bit silly.

Yeah, get Woy back to talk us down and manage our expectations.

[Pureblood]

Yeah, get Woy back to talk us down and manage our expectations.

Sure, that's precisely what i meant.