Two goals from Craig Bellamy and one from Steven Gerrard was enough for Liverpool tonight, as they beat Newcastle 3-1 in a tight match at Anfield tonight.
It was the first time Liverpool had scored three goals in a match since the August 27 win over Bolton and ended a spell where Liverpool had drawn four of its previous five home matches.
It was pretty apparent from the kick-off that Newcastle were looking to park the bus and get a 0-0 draw and sneak a goal on the counter attack and steal all three points.
The game seemed to be following a familiar pattern of Liverpool having lots of possession, creating chances and then getting done on the counter-attack and that is exactly what happened after 25 minutes. Ryan Taylor swung in a cross from the left the ball just missed Yohan Cabaye only for Agger to inadvertently divert it past Jose Reina under pressure from Demba Ba.
Luckily before anyone’s head could go down, Craig Bellamy tied the score 4 minutes later. Tiote made a poor attempt at clearing Adam’s cut-back from the right of the penalty area and Bellamy drive through a crowd of players from 16 yards.
In the second half it was all Liverpool, without creating a lot of clear cut chances. The best game came when Gerrard whipped in a great cross that Any Carroll failed to properly control.
Yes Carroll did not score tonight, but he played a big role in Liverpool’s second and he hit the bar from another Gerrard cross. With Stevie G back playing, I think we care going to see lots of goals from Carroll between now and the end of the season.
For Liverpool’s second, Bellamy was lining up to take a free-kick from outside the box when Danny Simpson decided to back-track to the goalline, allowing Carroll to stand between Krul and the ball. When Bellamy’s shot came in, Simpson got in the way of his goalkeeper and the ball crept between the two of them.
All that was left was for Steven Gerrard to announce his return from injury with a goal which he did in the 77th minute, when he ran from deep to collect Henderson’s through-ball and side-foot an angled shot past Krul.
Strangely I have seen Liverpool play better lately than they did tonight and not win. It was good to see the chances go in the back of the net for once.
I cannot overstate how good it was to have Gerrard back on the pitch. His runs, and the quality of his passes makes everyone around him better.
What did you think of the match tonight?
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