Newcastle reflections

These thoughts are a touch later than usual and in the interim it's been interesting to soak up the many other thoughts floating around the wider media. Truth is, you'd need to be blind to see anything remotely at odds with most of what has been written. It was just one of those games. Even with the contentious issues like the appalling tackle by Vuckic there is pretty much unanimity, though it was fascinating the way things panned out during the couple of minutes that Spearing was being treated.

Referee Probert, who once again impressed me as one of the very best officials these days, clearly knew something had happened if only because of the extreme reactions of the Liverpool players. Yet, while stating the obvious that he hadn't see the incident, the reaction of the crowd -and clearly his assistants (even possibly the 4th official)- showed that very few others had picked it out either.

But I like the way this fellow officiates. He twice booked Newcastle players in the first half and on both occasions he was clearly verifying matters with his linesmen and taking his time before quietly brandishing the card in an unassuming way. He brings thinbgs back if advantage isn't gained. When Spearing was fouled he detached himself from the throng and I'd put a dollar bet on him checking with his aides in order to try and emerge with the correct decision.

But back to the part that matters -the players- and welcome back, Captain Fantastic! The papers of course were full of it this morning, but rightly so.

Two things in particular struck me about his impact on the game. Firstly, his sheer presence; here was the leader, orchestrating everything with an authority that nobody else had. The second aspect is related to the first: the speed with which he conducts affairs, keeping the ball moving, switching instantly from left to right and the other way. No looking up and assessing things; he'd done that before receiving the ball and for the first time in the game, you could see the Newcastle rearguard getting stretched and having to really run about to cover the space. Only minutes before his arrival the Geordies were keeping possession most commendably and the Reds were struggling to win the ball back.

All this talk of new signings and there we are, two days before the window opens showing off our newest arrival of the present season; he's cost nothing and even at 31 is worth a fortune!

And talking of veterans, Dirk Kuyt has been struggling a bit with his form of late, but last night he came on and played like a man possessed. Everyone was understandably noticing the captain but I don't believe we should overlook the part played by the Dutchman during much of the same period.

I believe Stevie-G got the MOTM from Sky, I suppose primarily for his game changing performance. But that does seem to me a touch hard of Jay Spearing who totally belied his physical stature with an immense presence on the pitch for the whole 90 minutes. For me, he adds balance to the midfield and not simply because of his tackling. His passing is understated and his ball through to Henderson ahead of Gerrard's goal showed immense vision.

Henderson bewilders me. He'll never be fully appreciated by the Kop as long as he keeps copping out of the 50-50 tackles. But realistically I doubt if he's likely to change now; he is what is his. However, further to that perceived timidity, he does seem to spend an awful lot of time running around in circles and the more I see of the guy the more I reckon he needs to be on the ball a lot more, indeed running with it. To be fair midfield is not an area where anyone gets that much time on the ball, but his short, one-touch passes are often of no consequence and indeed, sometimes cause the receiver problems. Yet for all that as Liverpool dominated the last half hour he seemed to benefit from the skipper next to him along with Kuyt chasing back and looked a different player as a result.

Another feature of Gerrard's presence was a far more meaningful relationship between Downing and Johnson. Their running at the Newcastle left flank really did provide for a meaningful outlet, but again the speed of ball to either or both by the captain was a big feature of that.

We all waited for the Newcastle retaliation, but it never came, which did surprise me, though all the word had been beforehand that the Geordies were extremely dour and relied very much on Demba Ba. Some columns have suggested he ought to be a Liverpool target in view of our goals famine, but one moment apart when Skrtel made that miraculous goal line clearance, he struck me as all muscle, arms and legs. Admittedly Skrtel himself is no shrinking violet and he hardly gave the guy a chance, but Newcastle striker hardly looked a Liverpool player even allowing for his tender years.

Which brings us nicely to Andy Carroll. In the end of the first half our little cluster were commenting on how the guy doesn't seem to anticipate what might happen next, whether from crosses or as once when Bellamy knocked the ball down into space. But then the moment Gerrard start feeding in those tantalising curling balls, he seemed to be ever eager and chasing everything. He was clearly under orders to push onto the last defender and anyone who doubted Carroll's fitness should have seen his non-stop chasing across the line. Perhaps he's a one-trick pony and needs a certain type of feed, which may mean that he and Suarez are destined not to partner each other. But for all that, the bottom line is that Stevie-G has opened up a completely new dimension and the second half of the season could be very interesting.