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They’re all big, but this was surely the biggest win of the season all things considered. There were so many things going against us and from the moment of Newcastle’s first equaliser it had that 2014 Selhurst Park feeling about it. Was this where our brave title challenge was finally going to die? Nope. These lads. Fucking hell. They just never give up and they’ll dig as deep as they need to dig to find a way to get the job done. St James’ Park was like a bear pit. Newcastle’s fans and players produced their best performance of the season. They made it massively difficult for our lads, who three days earlier had expended a huge amount of physical and mental energy in Camp Nou. So much was against us and if this was the hurdle that we’d finally fallen over, I don’t think there would have been any recriminations, only sympathy and admiration for such a valiant effort. We stumbled and looked as though we’d crash into that last hurdle, but then somehow the boys summoned up the energy to clear it. The hurdles are all behind us and now there’s just the race to the line with City. It's gone to the final day, which is an incredible effort. I can’t even describe the admiration I’ve got for Klopp and this team. Setbacks don’t phase them, they merely inspire them to an even greater effort. Bobby was ruled out (probably for the season) and we would later lose Mo. Two thirds of our devastating forward line missing, while Sadio wasn’t really a factor at all as he looked completely goosed in the second half. Yet we ended up winning anyway. It wasn’t pretty, but it was ballsy. We had lots of fortune, some good and some bad. It was a crazy game, one of those mad ones we used to have all the time. We’ve developed our game to a level where this doesn’t happen too often these days, but sometimes the strategy and control goes out of the window and you have to stand in the middle of the ring and trade punches. That’s what happened here. I mentioned the Palace 3-3 in the opening paragraph, and I had that feeling from early on. Newcastle were fired up and for once we just never looked comfortable defensively. They used Rondon as a battering ram and then got players up in support of him, and I’m struggling to think of a time this season when we looked less secure at the back. Lovren just couldn’t cope with Rondon. He was trying to win the physical battle with him but couldn’t. Rondon was too strong for him. Not just that, as well as being a big powerful unit, he’s a good player too. And clever. Newcastle’s tactics were to get everyone behind the ball and when they got possession they’d just launch it to the big man. Usually that doesn’t work against us, but this time it did. Partly because Lovren struggled, and also because of the tired legs in the rest of the side, especially in midfield. Lovren was poor but I don’t think this was one of those ‘meltdown’ games he’s had, where his head completely goes and his emotions get the better of him. I think mentally he was fine, he just got thoroughly outplayed by Rondon. Even Virgil didn’t look completely comfortable when he came up against him. Interestingly, Fabinho probably dealt with him better than anyone when he eventually dropped into the back four when Milner replaced Lovren. He’s a damn good centre back is Fabinho. Carragher made the point in commentary that Lovren should have been telling Fabinho to sit in on Rondon when Newcastle were hitting it long. I don’t know why this just doesn’t happen anyway. Fabinho shouldn’t need telling to do that as it’s just common sense for a holding midfielder, especially when you see that your centre back isn’t winning the headers. Lovren should have asked for help (he had the same problem against Lukaku last year) but his ego probably doesn’t allow him to do that. He prides himself on winning the physical battles but Rondon had his number and steps should have been taken to deal with the problem. Between them, Klopp, Lovren, Fabinho and Henderson and Van Dijk should have sorted that issue much sooner. It’s irritating how we seem to get everybody’s best effort when they play us though. Granted, Newcastle beat City so I’m not putting them in the ‘roll over and tickle our belly, Pep’ category with Everton, Bournemouth, Chelsea, United and others, but it’s galling seeing a team with essentially nothing to play for, coming out frothing at the mouth and playing like their lives depended on it. That’s what we’re dealing with though. So many don’t want us to win the league and they all want to be the ones to put the nail in the coffin, no doubt so they can sing about it for the next decade. I’m just fucking glad these sad cunts weren’t the ones to do it. Fuck Newcastle, the sad bastards. Apparently Newcastle fans wanted revenge because of the second 4-3 which threw a spanner in the works of their title bid. Not sure what their beef is there, it's hardly our fault they shit the bed the way they did. It's not like we were the only ones to beat them. I thought we started this game really well, confidently passing the ball around and dictating the game. We got an early corner and I called it perfectly. “Come on Trent, drop it on Virgil’s head” I said, and he did just that. Full disclosure, I say that from literally every corner we get, but even so I called that one. I don’t know what happened to leave Virgil as free as he was, but Klopp was gushing in his praise of his assistants afterwards and the work they do to create situations like that. Even after watching it again I still can’t quite figure out how they did it, but two players went with Mané and that left Van Dijk on his own. Fair play to Lascielles who slipped over after being duped by the ruse and followed Mané instead of Virgil, and then began appealing for a foul. Some next level desperation that. If we’d scored a quick second maybe the game would have turned into a stroll for us, especially as Salah was looking really sharp and Sturridge’s vision and passing ability was really giving Newcastle problems. I was surprised (and if I’m honest, disappointed) when I saw he’d been given the nod to start the game, but in fairness I thought he did well. He looked great in the opening half an hour or so while we were on top, and he did a good job for us late on when we were protecting the lead and needed to keep the ball and slow things down. I saw a lot of criticism directed at him but I can’t go along with it. Other than that dreadful miss at 2-1 which would have put the game to bed, I thought he did as well as could be expected. But anyway, onto the moment that turned the flow of the game on it’s head. Newcastle’s first goal. Firstly I’d say we brought it on ourselves with some needless messing about at the back which invited Newcastle to press and eventually win it back after an unconvincing clearance from Alisson. I don’t blame the keeper though, the ball should never have gone back to him in the first place. It was a sloppy passage of play that got the crowd going and encouraged Newcastle. Trent’s ball to Lovren was crap, Lovren’s ball to Alisson was worse, and that just started a poor passage of play. It culminated in an overload at the back post where Trent had to challenge Rondon for a header (which he won), and then Ritchie collected the loose ball. For some reason Sturridge was the one who got back in to close him down, but the cross shot fell perfectly for Rondon, whose shot was blocked on the line by the elbow of Trent. We were very fortunate that Atsu tucked away the rebound because otherwise we’d have been looking at a penalty and a red card for Trent. We caught a break there, undoubtedly, but was there any need for Martin Tyler and Carra to go on and on and on about it for the next 20 minutes? Where is the story in this? I don’t get it. It’s an open and shut case and the referee did that exactly by the book. He could have blown immediately for the handball, given a penalty and sent off Trent, but he waited a second to see what had happened, and Newcastle scored so therefore Trent did not deny a goalscoring opportunity because it ended in a goal. Andre Marriner was probably the most relieved man in the stadium, as had Newcastle not scored he’d have had to figure out whether to send off Trent or Fabinho. Good job Ox wasn’t starting, or he’d have been completely flummoxed. Anyway, Newcastle scored but lots of people wanted a red card anyway…. Carra made the valid comparison with the ‘Ghost Goal’ and how given the choice he’d rather have had a penalty and a red card for Cech. That’s fair enough, given the choice I’m sure Newcastle would have preferred that option too. Here’s the thing though, you don’t have a choice, so it is what it is. (For the record, I’d be in favour of that change being made but it’s not going to happen). Tyler couldn’t let it go though could he? Jesus, he went on and one. But then that’s Tyler. The sheer amount of drivel that comes out of his mouth during games is incredible. He’ll go on for ten minutes about what a player used to have for his breakfast 15 years ago when he played for a different club. No-one cares. Just shut up and commentate, you waffling tit. In fact, better yet, just fuck off into retirement like that other arl goat Motson. Let me state for the record - just in case there’s any confusion here - I hate Martin Tyler almost as much as he hates Liverpool. Anyway, 1-1 and now Newcastle really had their tails up. Both teams looked like they might score any time they went forward but it was us who got the next goal. Sturridge did well against two players in the corner and back heeled the ball back to Trent. He whipped in a glorious first time ball that Salah cushioned in with… *watches video again just to be sure*…. his RIGHT FOOT! Trent is being credited with the assist for that but really it’s mine. I’m not saying Mo read my last match report, but I definitely cried that goal in so you can thank me for that one. Funnily enough, I’d had another ‘right foot rant’ about 15 minutes before he scored. The ball dropped to him in the box and he attempted a half volley with his left foot even though the ball was too far across his body for him to be able to hit the target with his left. Anyway, the upshot of it all is my complaining worked and we had the lead again. Mané could have added another one after a lovely quick break between him and Salah. Mo’s pass to play him in was perfect, but the keeper was out quickly and smothered the shot. At half time I wasn’t relaxed and I was expecting a wild second half in which we’d concede one or two more but hopefully score at least another couple. 3-3 or a 4-3 win would have been my prediction at that point. Thankfully Newcastle only got the one goal and we were able to match it. Both teams had the chances to score more though, and Rondon continued to be a pain in our arse. We could have made things much easier for ourselves had Sturridge taken the one chance that came his way. It was on his left foot, central, and you’d expect him to bury that, but he wasn’t even close. The loss of pace is something he cannot control, but his finishing is something that should have been unaffected by his injury problems. He misses a few though doesn’t he? Nowhere near as clinical as he used to be. That miss was huge because instead of us going 3-1 up Newcastle scored a couple of minutes later to make it 2-2. It was an avoidable goal too, and I think mental fatigue played a part. We cleared the initial corner and Sadio was looking to counter quickly, and in doing so he left his man all alone. That man was Rondon and the ball broke to him to volley past Alisson. Interesting that nobody bothered to mention that Ayoze Perez loser (yeah I’m bringing that back now, fuck him the dirty snide bastard) was stood in the keeper’s line of sight about two yards offside. I know the offside rule is a minefield these days, but I’m pretty sure that’s not allowed even under the weird new interpretation of the law. I’m not complaining about it as it’s not always easy for a linesman to know if a player is obscuring the keeper’s view or not. I only highlight this to show the double standards involved. All the hand wringing about Trent’s handball and Fabinho’s dive, but nothing about that. It was worrying at 2-2 but this team have came through worse situations than this and there was plenty of time left. I did have a feeling of impending doom but I hadn’t lose hope. And then it happened. Mo chased a ball from Lovren and the keeper came out, leading with his leg, and flattened him with a thigh to the temple. These things are never given as fouls so I have no beef with the ref over it, but I’d love to know why it’s acceptable for keepers to challenge like that it’s so dangerous? They always lead with their leg outstretched to protect themselves, but anyone in the firing line is at risk. On the subject of dangerous challenges in the box, how was it acceptable for Manquillo to kick Mané in the head? You can’t do that, it’s a foul. Yet Marriner saw it and gave nothing. Mo looked in a really bad way and our season looked on the verge of ending when he left on that stretcher. I’ll be honest, I’d given up, I thought we were done. I know I’m not alone there. I wasn’t angry, just sad. I felt bad for the lads more than anything. They suffered for a few minutes and it looked quite ragged. We needed cool heads but players were trying to force it. When Trent attempted a quick free-kick and put the ball straight out of play, Klopp immediately summoned Milner from the bench. The right call. We needed experience out there. After that we were more patient and more controlled. It never felt like Newcastle would score again as Fabinho slotted into the back four and Milner helped to control the midfield. Still, we weren't creating anything and I couldn't see us scoring from open play. A set-piece maybe, because we've got Virgil, but it really wasn't looking hopeful. And then they found a way to win it and keep the league title dream alive for one final week. That’s all we can ask for. These lads have taken it right down to the wire and I couldn’t be any more proud of them. There was a glorious irony in our winning goal too. The other night, Fabinho got cheated out of a free-kick that Messi scored from. No-one other than LFC fans sympathised with him. The justification for Messi doing what he did was that Fabinho had been fouling him all game so Messi was entitled to do it. Three days later, Fabinho took a blatant dive to win a free-kick from Matt Ritchie, and the hypocrisy was rampant. “Dive!” “Cheating bastard” “Never a free-kick, typical lucky scousers” etc Here’s the thing. It was a dive and Ritchie didn’t touch him. I’m not going to shy away from that or try to justify it. Frankly I don’t care. This kind of shit happens against so often that if you aren’t prepared to fight fire with fire then you’re fighting with one hand tied behind your back. Fabinho shithoused his way to a free-kick and we won the game from it. Spare me your indignation though, Newcastle fans. That twat Ritchie was leaving his foot in all night and the ref usually turned a blind eye to it. He had three late ones on Mo in the first half alone and we didn’t get a free-kick for any of them. So for him to get penalised when he didn’t actually do anything was extra sweet. Fuck Matt Ritchie. Fuck Newcastle fans. Fuck Newcastle’s players. And fuck Rafa too, and his ‘middle aged Harry Potter’ speccy sidekick who tried to pick a fight with Klopp. Newcastle were DESPERATE to stop us winning the league. They fought as though their lives depended on it, but we won anyway. Fuck all of them. In fact, fuck everyone who isn’t us, except Leicester and maybe Brighton (I’ll let you know after tonight). Fuck them all. Having got the lead for a third time we then had to negotiate eight minutes of stoppage time. We never looked like conceding though did we? I thought we handled the closing stages superbly. Milner trying to commit a tactical foul in their half, the ref playing an advantage and then Milner getting up and sprinting forty yards to foul someone else was a particular highlight. I've watched that winning goal about 50 times now and it just makes me smile. Shaq’s delivery was great and although Big Div’s header deflected in off Lascielles, it’s clearly his goal. I also loved Virgil seeing that Trent was going to take an out swinger and letting them know that wasn’t happening. No no no, Shaq, you’re on this. Then Shaq's little face when he runs to Virgil afterwards. What about Origi though. He’s earned us six points more or less single handedly this season. Without him, we wouldn’t be in the race. We’ve had valuable contributions from so many players this year. That’s why I keep thinking maybe Ox is going to have a say this week, or maybe Rhian Brewster. Whatever happens at the Etihad tonight I’d be going all out to stick it to Barcelona. There's plenty of recovery time for the weekend, so throw the sink, the dishwasher, the toaster, the kettle, the whole fucking kitchen at them. There’s no Bobby or Mo, but so what? It's Anfield under the lights. If we have to play Origi and Shaq instead then so be it. We beat Juventus with Anthony Le Tallec in the side. We beat Milan with my boy Meeeelan up front on his own. Shaq, Sturridge, Origi whoever, they can all play as Anfield on nights like that can carry players to levels they’ve never reached before. Whoever plays, we need to get on top of them early and then stay on top of them. It can be done, we’ve done miraculous things before and last year Roma overturned a 4-1 against them. Just get right at them, put them under pressure and let’s see what happens. If it isn’t enough, fine, we’ll get them next year. I just hope that whatever happens, we manage to make Suarez’s night a living hell. Come on Redmen, two more big efforts and then let’s see where it leaves us. Star man is Trent, just a head of Robbo. There’s no better full back pairing anywhere in the world, can’t wait to see them tearing into Barca on Tuesday. Team: Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Lovren (Milner), Van Dijk, Robertson; Fabinho, Wijnaldum (Shaqiri), Henderson; Salah (Origi), Sturridge, Mané: