Newcastle show little to suggest survival

ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE: Liverpool 3 Newcastle Utd 0NEWCASTLE UNITED are developing a momentum that threatens to hurtle them into the Championship. It was impossible to detect any quality at Anfield that can preserve their status and they could not gloss over the gratuitous and ugly incident in which Joey Barton was dismissed by the referee, Phil Dowd, in the 77th minute after adding to his grim reputation.

A dreadful tackle near the Newcastle corner flag caught Xabi Alonso on the left ankle. The midfielder was borne away on a stretcher, although that was mostly to spare him the trudge round the track. His ankle may have been only sprained. Barton will have no further part to play this season because of suspension.

Alan Shearer’s decision to give him his first outing since a metatarsal injury on January 28th proved a miscalculation. It is impossible to hold the interim manager accountable for Newcastle’s plight but he has made no discernible difference to it.

The club are 18th and will have to overtake Hull, who are three points above them.

Liverpool’s pursuit is arithmetically identical to Newcastle’s, although the attempt to track down Manchester United does entail the Premier League title itself. The Anfield side has not abandoned hope entirely. Rafael Benitez chose not to include Fernando Torres, who seemed to have some slight trouble with his delicate hamstrings.

The decision also reflected the manager’s understanding that a full complement was not necessary. Everything is shallow at Newcastle. Confidence, organisation, determination and technique soon evaporated at Anfield. No signs have yet been seen of frantic endeavour. In truth there is not much pace in the squad to stoke any sort of frenzy.

Michael Owen was demoted to the bench yet the attackers such as Mark Viduka and Obafemi Martins who started became increasingly ineffective.

Steve Harper embodied what feeble resistance there was for Newcastle, particularly when he dived to his right to stop a Steven Gerrard drive. Dirk Kuyt should have given Liverpool the lead but headed a Fabio Aurelio cross wide. The opener came in the 22nd minute when Yossi Benayoun turned a low ball from Kuyt into the net.

The Israeli was perhaps a foot offside. Newcastle’s errors, though, were greater than those of Dowd and his assistants. Viduka headed senselessly into his own area at the goal and Alan Smith then neglected to clear. By contrast, inaction was the visitors’ theme when Kuyt was unchallenged to head home Gerrard’s corner after 28 minutes.

Shearer had elected to mirror Liverpool’s 4-2-3-1 formation. That structure is supposed to put 10 bodies between the opposition and the goal-line but it speaks volumes about Newcastle’s lack of application that there was no sense of congestion when Benitez’ side crossed the halfway line.

The menacing efforts from distance said much about the character of the game. Alonso twice hit the bar and Daniel Agger and Gerrard once each. There was never anything hurried about these efforts and Agger’s attempt looked particularly measured.

Despite having so many men back, Newcastle did not show the urgency that would have denied Liverpool poise.

If anything hindered the Anfield team, it was the sheer ease of the win but they ducked any accusation of negligence by remembering to score at least one goal after the interval. The substitute Lucas Leiva was, predictably, unmarked at the near post when he headed in a free-kick from Aurelio after 87 minutes.

Without seeming outstanding, the 22-year-old Brazilian, signed in 2007, has had the benefit of 23 appearances in the Premier League this season alone.

There has been progress despite lapses such as the dismissal in the FA Cup replay defeat by Everton. Stress exists at Anfield, where a challenge for trophies is expected, but the environment is still more nurturing than it could be at St James’ Park.

Shearer has home games to come against Middlesbrough and Fulham before a trip to Villa. Only an unlikely transformation can save the club now.

GuardianService