Five talking points: Newcastle United 0-6 Liverpool
A hapless Newcastle United outfit was humiliated and torn to shreds in a 6-0 defeat to Liverpool in front of their home crowd. The Reds put a bad week behind them with a scintillating performance, with goals from Daniel Agger, Fabio Borini, and doubles from Jordan Henderson and Daniel Sturridge sealing the away side’s biggest victory of the season in emphatic fashion.
Here are the five talking points from the game:
Phillipe Coutinho steps up magnificently
Phillipe Coutinho: Is life without Suarez a possibility for Liverpool?
Luis Suarez is Liverpool’s most dynamic player and their biggest creative outlet, creating a significant amount of the Reds’ chances. Only one other player in the squad possesses similar creative abilities, and he stepped up to the plate in outstanding fashion. The Brazilian was full of mazy little runs and exquisite passes, directly playing two breathtaking through balls for the crucial 2nd and 3rd goals, which effectively sealed the tie for Liverpool.
The January signing was nigh-on unplayable for large portions of the game, and displayed that life without Suarez just might be possible. His passing, vision and quality shone brightly as he gave the home players nightmares, and once again proved just how good of a signing he is, not to mention how insanely necessary it was.
His shot rattled the crossbar at the end, and the 20-year old was unlucky to leave the field of play without a deserved goal. He is young and can still greatly improve, and with time, he could become one of the best players in the world.
Liverpool’s Passing, movement and teamwork was beautiful
Other than the opening six minutes of the second half, the Reds almost completely dominated their hosts despite seeing less of the ball. Their vibrancy shone through, and they scored some delightful team goals. The likes of Downing, Henderson and Gerrard played well, with Coutinho the obvious star. The full-backs chipped in efficiently as well, with Jose Enrique also putting in an admirable defensive shift.
Despite the weakened state of the opposition defence, there are still good players at Newcastle, and the Reds played them out of the game. It was a recipe for a brutally efficient team performance, and by the end you would have imagined that they felt sorry for their hosts, content in just passing the ball around.
This is the type of performance and clinical efficiency that was required against the likes of Reading and West Ham, and if the Merseysiders hadn’t been so inconsistent this season, they would’ve been in the running for the Top 4.
Newcastle need to step up to avoid the drop
Alan Pardew and Co. have some serious thinking to do
There were instances of the Magpies playing good football, even though they were few and far. The likes of Cabaye, Sissoko and Tiote never got going, and were overrun by a superior Liverpool midfield. The heavy 6-0 defeat will be extremely demoralizing for the Tynesiders, but the fact of the matter is they are only five points above the drop zone, with Wigan and Aston Villa below them having played a game less.
The Magpies face a relatively manageable two fixtures against QPR and West Ham, before welcoming Champions League chasing Arsenal to St. James’ Park. Getting at least 3-4 points out of those games is extremely crucial to their continued presence in the Premier League, and Alan Pardew really has a huge task on his hands, given their recent terrible form.
The Magpies are too good for relegation and have the quality to survive. With captain Coloccini set to return and tighten the defence, the likes of Cabaye, and Sissoko need to give more service to Papiss Cisse for Newcastle to have any hopes of survival.
Daniel Sturridge proves his worth
While the creator-in-chief duties fell to Coutinho, Sturridge had to take the lead centre forward position, something he did with aplomb. While Coutinho’s trickery and vision overwhelmed Newcastle, Sturridge’s pace, movement and direct attacking approach was too much for the defence to handle. One particular attacking sequence saw him dribble from the halfway line to the edge of the penalty box, before shooting right at the ‘keeper.
He combined efficiently with Coutinho and Henderson, even laying on a selfless pass to the latter for Liverpool’s second. He was brought in for this exact kind of performance, and was rather unlucky not to complete his hat-trick and was Liverpool’s second best player on the night. He is a real talent, a player that Chelsea shouldn’t have discarded this January.
There are still nine long games to play without Suarez, and Sturridge will face harder games in this trying period, and the upcoming game against Everton at Anfield will be critical and something that he, Coutinho and the rest of the team will be judged on.
The 2013-14 Liverpool squad will be a force to reckon with
Brendan Rodgers’ Liverpool have made progress despite just moving from 8th to 7th in the table, and the manager will be disappointed that his young team isn’t closer to Top 4, their terrible inconsistency being the reason for their current position. They’ve utterly dominated teams on numerous occasions, including the two games against Manchester City and the home tie against Manchester United, but have failed to grab the initiative and clinch three points.
The Reds should have gained at least 15 points more over the course of this season and that is exactly what has to be rectified next season. A new central defender has to come in for the retiring hero Jamie Carragher, and another holding midfielder is essential, as the Reds have, at times, lacked the bite in the middle of the park. Another Coutinho-type player should also be brought in, as many times, despite their possession, the Reds have run into brick walls against teams who set up to defend against them.
Another striker would also be a welcome addition, as two top-notch strikers might not be enough when the fixtures start to pile up or when one gets injured.