Habib Beye Watch at Liverpool

Asked in his post match interview whether that was "as good as they've played" Rafa Benitez looked embarrassed. He knows like we all do that Liverpool didn't have to do much to beat us comfortably in their own back yard.

Shearer marked his fifth game in charge with some interesting selections. Joey Barton started and Michael Owen dropped to the bench with Nolan and R.Taylor seemingly no closer to the starting lineup. Jonas continued to warm the bench from the start, his ankle injury seemingly still playing up, and Duff was preferred at left-back over Edgar, allowing McLovenkrands to slot back in on the left side of the Viduka led spearhead.

The first twenty minutes were encouraging, much like the Pompey game, with the front 3 getting enough of the ball to keep a little possession and that is about as much as we can take from the game.

Our 4 - 4 - 2 come 4 - 3 - 3 formation was easily bypassed by the Liverpool engine room as the game went on. Butt and Smith tried to cope, but with Barton given a bit of rope to go forward there was too much space for Alonso and Gerrard to wander into whenever they wanted.

Liverpool found themselves in front on 22 minutes when an offside Yossi Benayoun kneed the ball in the net. Newcastle then unravelled when a poorly defended set piece saw Habib Beye lose his man and get snarled up by Agger in the box. Beye recovered, but not in time to stop Dirk Kuyt scoring with a header passed a surprisingly static Steve Harper.

Liverpool then hit cruise control. We can't remember many chances for Newcastle as Liverpool hit the woodwork countless times, Harper smartly pushing one onto the bar in the second half. Barton started the second half out wide as Newcastle changed to a standard 4 - 4 - 2 but it made little difference. Barton had showed few signs of frustration throughout the game but decided to vent them all at once on Alonso. A cowards tackle from behind left Alonso in a heap. Despite his protestations it was a hideous challenge the saw Barton receive his marching orders. As if the game wasn't already beyond us Alonso's replacement Lucas scored shortly before the 90 minutes were up, leaving a line of statuesque Newcastle defenders to rue another goal.

Leaving Anfield with our goal difference advantage over Hull almost intact, we have to wonder if we have the players and the passion to overcome their three points advantage. Sooner or later something has to change because if this malaise continues, we're going down :-(

Habib Beyewatch round-up:

SkySports = 5
SkySports Player Rater = 4.1 (ouch!)
The Mirror = 5