Sterling effort from Liverpool sees off lacklustre Newcastle

By Callum Foster Goals from Raheem Sterling and Joe Allen saw Liverpool beat Newcastle in a mostly one-sided encounter at Anfield on Monday night.  

Two days before the 26th anniversary of the Hillsborough disaster, in which 96 Liverpool fans were crushed or trampled to death at an FA Cup fixture, a minute of silence was perfectly observed by both sets of fans who marked the occasion with the solemn respect it deserved.

Liverpool came in to the match having made several changes from their 4-1 demolition by Arsenal a week ago, but it took them just ten minutes to take the lead.

Sterling loitered on the edge of the box and brought a perfectly-weighted Henderson cross under control, before easing inside past two Newcastle defenders and caressing the ball past the helpless Tim Krul. This was Sterling at his best, finally allowed space to breathe and more than making the most of it.

Wave after wave of pressure from Liverpool followed, as Liverpool’s midfielders ran the opposition ragged in the centre of the park. Lucas Leiva should perhaps have doubled the lead after 35 minutes, but his bullet header was parried away excellently by Dutch international Krul.

Newcastle showed signs of life and coach John Carver was incensed when his team was not awarded a penalty after Lovren seemed to clatter into Toon striker Ayoze Perez inside the box.

Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson demonstrated how well he is growing into the gap left by legend Steven Gerrard, who was absent due to the red card he received for a stamp during his side’s crunch match against Manchester United.

Newcastle came out fighting after the break but came up against some strong glove-work from Simon Mignolet in the Liverpool goal.

Just before the hour-mark a mazy run on the wing from Henderson resulted in a laboured cross into the box. A poor clearance from Ryan Taylor, however, saw the ball land perfectly for Sterling in front of the Kop, but the England international wasted a golden chance to make it 2-0 and fired wide.

A notable moment of the second half was the introduction of Newcastle’s Jonas Gutierrez, only just making his comeback after overcoming cancer treatment.

But he could do nothing to prevent the strike in the 69th minute which killed the away team’s hopes of coming away from this game with a point. An awkward bounce deflected off a Newcastle player and found the feet of Joe Allen who smashed the ball past the helpless Krul to make it 2-0 – a rare goal from the young Welsh international.

This second goal all but killed the game and Newcastle offered little in terms of attacking threat. The final period was not without drama however, with Toon captain Moussa Sissoko picking up a second yellow card for a shocking tackle on Leiva who was lucky not to break a bone.

Sterling missed another golden opportunity minutes later as he fired high and wide from 8 yards out, but his performance will have endeared him to those fans who accuse him of greed during recent contract negotiations.

The win sees Brendan Rogers’ team move into 5th place on 57 points – one point above chasers Southampton, while Newcastle languish in 13th place on the same number of points they have had since February – 35. 

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