Off to an early Saturday kick-off, the fixtures of Newcastle and Liverpool today is starting a bit low in the first 10 minutes with both team seems to just warming up in a cold North East pre-winter season. Scott Murray of the Guardian write about the game as a bit of a nondescript start.
In the first five minutes, Gerrard wins a corner down the left and takes it himself. It’s swung in and palmed away by Given for another. While taking the corner, $tevie Mbe eyes flit up towards the stands where the home crowds are giving him the amount of abuse.
The visitors break at pace as Kewell clips a ball into Kuyt 20 yards out, the Dutch striker cushions his header left to Torres, Geordie hearts are in mouths as the Spaniard ghosts by the challenge of Rozehnal, luckily for the Magpies it’s Beye again who reads the situation and recovers to stop the Reds forward in his tracks. Liverpool work the corner short and Gerrard tries to cross deep but the delivery has too much weight and drifts away for a goal-kick.
Well, once again we have been under heavy pressure from the visitors with both Torres and especially Gerrard seemd very keen to make a one man show in-front of the Geordies faithful.
Given does well to fist away Gerrard’s stinging 25-yard strike in the twentieth minutes or so, but he couldn’t do anything to stop his second attempt five minutes later when Torres’ touch is just too quick for Emre and the Turk takes out the forward 30 yards from goal and is lucky to escape a booking.
Lucas Leivia rolls the ball from a free-kick into the path of Steven Gerrard who smashes an unstoppable drive into Shay Given’s top corner to give the visitors the lead. I wonder why he was rarely seen doing that on last Wednesday for his England team.
But for what Newcastle has done in the first-half, I just asking myself what happened to the St. James’ Park audience lately. It was horrible scene to look at the green land of St. James with poor Lads running away like headless chickens, we only can get at most 3-4 passes before losing the ball to opposite.
The only serious attempts for the lads was in 37 minutes where the ball breaks to Smith, just outside the area, and he takes a swing at the ball; the shot is brilliant, only just missing the left-hand post.
The visitors nearly took the second with Torres breaks clear the offside trap, Given quickly races outside his box and Torres try to flicks the ball round him and hits Given’s upper arm, not deliberate, but he could have been sent off for that. Kuyt rebound back to Torres, who sidefoots towards an empty net from 20 yards out only to hits the post.
Once again the only sounds hearing at St. James’ during the most of the first-half is the booing for Newcastle Lads. Complete silence mostly. Those are some seriously unhappy Toon fans who have to wait longer for any progress made by Big Sam’s revolution.