Sport - Football

Liverpool swamps Newcastle, remains unbeaten

— Photo: AP

TEAM SPIRIT: Liverpool’s Ryan Babel (right) celebrates his goal with teammates.

LONDON: Liverpool remained unbeaten in the Premier League after a 3-0 victory at Newcastle.

Newcastle, which has picked up only one point in four matches, was embarrassed as Liverpool totally dominated Saturday’s game.

It certainly appeared that Gerrard had something to prove as he produced a magnificent midfield show packed with energy, drive and a contribution to all three goals.

Gerrard scored the first from long-range and was involved as Dirk Kuyt and Ryan Babel added more goals but even that didn’t fully reflect Liverpool’s overwhelming superiority.

The turning point came in the 27th minute when Fernando Torres was fouled by Emre 30 yards from goal, offering Gerrard the chance to drill a marvellous shot into the top corner after the ball was touched to him by Lucas Leiva, the Brazilian who was making a rare appearance for Liverpool. .

Newcastle, deprived of six experienced defenders because of injuries, compensated by playing Geremi and Charles N’Zogbia as wing-backs, although the presence of Harry Kewell prevented Geremi making any attacking impact.

So it was 38 minutes before Allardyce’s team made any inroads when a shot from Alan Smith went across the face of Pepe Reina’s goal. The game was put beyond Newcastle’s reach within 56 seconds of the restart, although goalscorer Kuyt knew little about it as Gerrard’s corner was touched on by Sami Hyypia and rebounded past Given off the striker’s shins.

Liverpool sensed that Newcastle would not have the resources to recover from a two-goal deficit and thoroughly enjoyed second-half supremacy that could have brought it half-a-dozen goals with more accurate finishing.

Liverpool’s another goal came in the 66th minute and Gerrard was again heavily involved as he exchanged passes with Ryan Babel before the substitute finished stylishly.

© Copyright 2000 - 2009 The Hindu