Football Corner

Liverpool started with a somewhat unexpected line up, Finnan, Carragher, Hyypia and Arbeloa were at the back. Lucas, Kewell, Sissoko and Gerrard started in midfield with Torres and Kuyt up front and no place for England's only positive from mid week, Peter Crouch.

The away side dominated early on, with the home crowd booing England's stand in skipper Steven Gerrard every time he got the ball. He proved his few doubters wrong however as he put in a stunning performance for The Reds'. The number 8 thundered home a 30 yard pile driver of a free kick midway through the first period silencing the majority of St. James Park.

There was controversy before the break as Torres felt Newcastle keeper Shay Given handled the ball outside his area, but the referee thought otherwise. The Spaniard also missed the rebound off Given which saw him hit the post of an open goal from 20 yards.

Straight after the break Liverpool made it 2-0 when Dirk Kuyt scrambled home Steven Gerrard's corner. Ryan Babel replaced the recovering Harry Kewell just before the hour mark and the Dutch man scored a couple of minutes after his introduction. Beautiful linkup play between himself and the Liverpool skipper left him inside the box to rifle into the bottom corner.

Liverpool missed a whole host of chances especially Torres, but besides his finishing it was a world class display from the Spaniard. The win takes some of the heat off Liverpool boss Rafa Benitez and as for Sam Allardyce his side were extremely poor and lucky that it didn't finish six or seven nil.