Liverpool vs Newcastle review


Liverpool hitman Fernando Torres was vital in a 3-0 crushing of Newcastle, having a hand in two and scoring one to add to his tally of 24, 2 less than Michael Owen's record. Pennant and Gerrard were the other two names on the scoreboard as Liverpool recorded its 300th Premier League win. Rafa made 3 changes from the West Ham match: Pennant, Lucas and Benayoun for Mascherano, Babel and Kuyt. Torres was the lone striker in a 4-2-3-1 formation. He had to wait just 11 minutes for a first opportunity after getting a run on Abdoulaye Faye inside the 18-yard box. There was only ever one winner there but it was Steve Harper to the rescue for Newcastle. The first goal was a freak. Torres made a through ball to Pennant but Enrique was always going to win that. Unluckily, he cleared the ball right into the knee of the oncoming Pennant and the ball dipped right over the head of Steve Harper into the centre of the goal. A minute later, Gerrard made a diagonal pass into the path of Fernando Torres. Steve Harper came out and Torres dummied the ball past him and slotted the ball into an open net. For his next trick he turned provider, picking the ball up on the half-way line on 51 minutes before picking out Gerrard's well-timed run.
One-on-one, the skipper stayed as cool, lobbing the keeper with a well-timed chip.