1-Jan-2012 - Liverpool v Newcastle United!

Visted 1 times

33 min: Craig Bellamy wins a corner for Liverpool and sends the ball into the mixer from the left. Skrtel gets a flick on at the near post and the ball fizzes tantalisingly close to Charlie Adam on it's way wide of the far post. 31 min: Here's a stat for you: I'm pretty sure Newcastle have won every single match in which they've scored first this season.GOAL! Liverpool 0-1 Newcastle (Bellamy 28) Charlie Adam driolls the ball across the Newcastle penalty area, it ricochets off a Newcastle defender and sits up nicely for Bellamy. The Liverpool striker picks his spot and smashes the ball into the bottom left-hand corner from 12 or 15 yards out, doing well to avoid the thicket of legs standing between him and the goal.28 min: Having seen that again, I can say with a reasonable amount of confidence that Daniel Agger turned the ball into his own net with an arm.GOAL! Liverpool 0-1 Newcastle (Ba/Agger 25) I'm not sure if that's an Agger own goal or another one on the increasingly long tally of Demba Ba. A deep, raking cross was sent in from the left by Ryan Taylor, Cabaye got the flick-on and Ba and Agger both rose to head it. The ball hit one, or possibly both, heads (or a head and an arm) to be deflected past a horribly wrong-footed Pepe Reina from about eight yards out.23 min: Demba Ba shakes off his marker and holds the ball up on the left-hand side of the Liverpool penalty area, before trying to pick out Yohan Cabaye with a neat dink. Liverpool clear.22 min: Possession stats: Liverpool 64%-36% Newcastle.22 min: Glenn Johnson tries to slide the ball down the inside right channel, inside Ryan Taylor for Bellamy to chase. It's a fine pass, but Taylor manages to poke it out of the path of a lurking Bellamy with an extended toe.19 min: A misplaced pass from Gabriel Obertan clunks against referee Lee Probert's shins and the ball sits up nicely for Charlie Adam, who tries his luck from distance. The ball whistles wide of the goalframe and Probert shakes his head and blows his cheeks out in relief. There'll be particularly paranoid fans of both clubs reading way too much into that gesture.17 min: According to Sky's man on the touchline, Geoff Shreeves, Andy Carroll just took advantage of a break in NFL jerseys supply play to run back in to his own half and have a go at Glen Johnson for not whipping the ball into him when he has it on the flanks. The full-back waved by way of apology, apparently.16 min: Craig Bellamy takes advantage of hesitation from Danny Simpson and then plays the ball to Jose Enrique, who was galloping behind him on the overlap. Enrique squares the ball in behind the defence across the face of the Newcastle goal, but there's nobody in a red shirt in a position to poke it home.13 min: Right, it's getting as bit boring, now, to be honest. While you couldn't rerally fault either team for effort, the lack of finesse on show here is jaw-dropping, considering this is top flight football from the Best League In The World. Pass after pass is being overhit or misplaced and the game has yet to settle down or find anything resembling a rhythm.11 min: Stewart Downing hits the ball against Ryan Taylor's hand in the Newcastle penalty area and the loud shout for a penalty goes up from the denizens of the Kop. No spot-kick is forthcoming.10 min: Ryan Taylor spots that Gabriel Obertan and laarrups a long cross-field pass towards the corner for the young Frenchman to chase. His pass is as overhit as his intentions were noble and the ball flies out of play.9 min: It's been a lively enough start, with plenty of enthusiastic gadding about by players from both teams, without anything much being created in the way of chances.7 min: Ah, I see now. Liverpool are actually playing a 4-5-1, with Bellamy on the right. More pertinently, does anyone really care?6 min: Daniel Agger advances and advances down the inside left, with nobody in a Newcastle shirt seeming too bothered about stopping him. He eventually decides to try his luck from the edge of the penalty area, but drags his low diagonal effort harmlessly wide4 min: Jordan Henderson appears to have lined up in the centre of Liverpool's midfield, with Charlie Adam taking a wider position. I could be wrong about that, mind. I'm neither Zonal Marking nor at the game.3 min: Nothing comes of the corner and Newcastle break on the counter-attack. Gabriel Obertan tries to send in a cross from the right flank, but his effort drifts high and wide, possibly after taking a deflection.2 min: Glen Johnson wins the first corner of the match for Liverpol, putting the ball out of play off Ryan Taylor.1 min: Game on, with both teams kitted out in the colours with they're most readily associated. Liverpool are playing into the Kop in the first half. Bellamny is played in behind a high Newcastle line and sends a hopeful shot goalwards, but is flagged for offside.An email from Peter Oh: "I agree that King Kenny could have given us something a bit more substantial than nearly quoting verbatim from USA for Africa's We Are The World," he says. "But he has a point. There comes a time, when Liverpool heed a certain call, and the squad must come together as one."How they'll line up: Liverpool look like they'll play a standard 4-4-2, with Jordan Henderson tucked in on the right of midfield, Stewart Downing on the left and Charlie Adam and Jay Spearing in the centre. Newcastle will play a 4-5-1, with their midfield bookended by Gabriel Obertan on the right and Jonas Guttierrez on the left, anchored by Yohan Cabaye, Cheik Tiote and Haris Vuckic in the middle. NFL shop jerseys Demba Ba will play alone up front.Weather report: It is hammering down with rain at Anfield and the men with forks are out prodding the pitch.An email from Phil Sawyer: "Re: the photo caption, '£35m, this cost'," he writes. Very questionable decision for the Guardian to be shelling out this kind of money on a photo largely unproven at the highest level."Nostalgia corner: On Sky they're reliving Liverpool's famous 4-3 win over Newcastle at Anfield in 1996, as seen through the eyes of assorted players who lined up for the Magpies that night: John Beresford, Steve Howey, Lee Clarke and David Ginola. Many people believe it's the greatest Premier League match ever played, but they obviously didn't see Stoke 0-0 Aston Villa earlier this week.Kenny Dalglish speaks: "We'll stick together as a one and then take it from there," says Liverpool's manager. "If we don't concede a goal we'lll go a long way." To be fair to Kenny, he could have added something more interesting and insightful than that, but my attention was elsewhere as he spoke.Alan Pardew speaks: In his pre-match interview, Newcastle's manager says "there are certain balls you can't defend against Andy Carroll, because if the delivery is right and he gets at them in a certain angle there's nothing you can do." He goes on to say that "stopping crosses" will be a key feature of Newcastle's game-plan tonight.Team news we've yanked from the wires: Strikers Andy Carroll and Craig Bellamy both start for Liverpool against their former club.Club-record signing Carroll keeps his place from Boxing Day's draw with Blackburn while Bellamy replaces Luis Suarez. Jay Spearing comes in for Maxi Rodriguez, the goalscorer against Rovers, while Steven Gerrard starts on the bench. Newcastle make one change from the side which beat Bolton on Monday with 19-year-old midfielder Haris Vuckic making only his second Premier League start - his first having come nine days ago in defeat to West Brom.Liverpool: Reina, Johnson, Skrtel, Agger, Jose Enrique,Henderson, Spearing, Adam, Downing, Carroll, Bellamy. Subs: Doni, Gerrard, Maxi, Kuyt, Carragher, Shelvey, Kelly.Newcastle: Krul, Simpson, Williamson, Coloccini, Ryan Taylor, Obertan, Tiote, Cabaye, Gutierrez, Vuckic, Ba. Subs: Elliot, Santon, Ben Arfa, Perch, Best, Shola Ameobi, Sammy Ameobi.Referee: Lee Probert (Wiltshire)Season's greetings everybody. With assorted holidays conspiring to make it difficult enough to know what day of the week it is around this time of year, the good folk at Premier League Towers have helped add to the general sense of discombobulation by scheduling football on a Friday night this week. Premier League football on a Friday? It just seems weird.Just a single point separates Liverpool and Newcastle United, with the Merseyside club in sixth place in the Premier League table, a solitary place above their Tyneside rivals, who haven't won in the league at Anfield for 16 years. The hosts go into tonight's match with Luis Suarez, who must serve a one-match ban for hoisting his middle digit in the general direction of Fulham fans some weeks ago, which means Andy Carroll is almost certain to start against the club where he made his reputation as a free-scoring battering ram … before quickly losing it in the wake of his highly publicised move to Liverpool last Christmas in a record-breaking £35m deal for a British player. While Carroll didn't set the large fee and much of the ridicule to have been levelled at him seems a bit unfair, he has been the subject of much criticism since moving to Anfield, for scoring just two goals in 16 appearances and occasionally looking ponderous and on a completely different wavelength to more canny and intelligent team-mates. Having made his first appearance since October coming off the bench against Blackburn Rovers, Steven Gerrard looks a likely starter for Liverpool tonight, while Newcastle may play midfielder Hatem Ben Arfa, who lined up against Bolton in their last outing, from the get-go. For Newcastle, Sylvain Marveaux, Peter Lovenkrands and Steven Taylor are all sidelined through injury. But with Liverpool having drawn against both Manchester clubs, Swansea, Norwich Blackburn Rovers and Sunderland at home this season, the Magpies are likely to be fairly confident of taking a point from tonight's game.Kick-off is at 7.45pm and I'll be back with all the team news and pre-match build-up shortly after 7pm.

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1-Jan-2012 - Liverpool v Newcastle United!

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33 min: Craig Bellamy wins a corner for Liverpool and sends the ball into the mixer from the left. Skrtel gets a flick on at the near post and the ball fizzes tantalisingly close to Charlie Adam on it's way wide of the far post. 31 min: Here's a stat for you: I'm pretty sure Newcastle have won every single match in which they've scored first this season.GOAL! Liverpool 0-1 Newcastle (Bellamy 28) Charlie Adam driolls the ball across the Newcastle penalty area, it ricochets off a Newcastle defender and sits up nicely for Bellamy. The Liverpool striker picks his spot and smashes the ball into the bottom left-hand corner from 12 or 15 yards out, doing well to avoid the thicket of legs standing between him and the goal.28 min: Having seen that again, I can say with a reasonable amount of confidence that Daniel Agger turned the ball into his own net with an arm.GOAL! Liverpool 0-1 Newcastle (Ba/Agger 25) I'm not sure if that's an Agger own NFL shop jerseys goal or another one on the increasingly long tally of Demba Ba. A deep, raking cross was sent in from the left by Ryan Taylor, Cabaye got the flick-on and Ba and Agger both rose to head it. The ball hit one, or possibly both, heads (or a head and an arm) to be deflected past a horribly wrong-footed Pepe Reina from about eight yards out.23 min: Demba Ba shakes off his marker and holds the ball up on the left-hand side of the Liverpool penalty area, before trying to pick out Yohan Cabaye with a neat dink. Liverpool clear.22 min: Possession stats: Liverpool 64%-36% Newcastle.22 min: Glenn Johnson tries to slide the ball down the inside right channel, inside Ryan Taylor for Bellamy to chase. It's a fine pass, but Taylor manages to poke it out of the path of a lurking Bellamy with an extended toe.19 min: A misplaced pass from Gabriel Obertan clunks against referee Lee Probert's shins and the ball sits up nicely for Charlie Adam, who tries his luck from distance. The ball whistles wide of the goalframe and Probert shakes his head and blows his cheeks out in relief. There'll be particularly paranoid fans of both clubs reading way too much into that gesture.17 min: According to Sky's man on the touchline, Geoff Shreeves, Andy Carroll just took advantage of a break in play to run back in to his own half and have a go at Glen Johnson for not whipping the ball into him when he has it on the flanks. The full-back waved by way of apology, apparently.16 min: Craig Bellamy takes advantage of hesitation from Danny Simpson and then plays the ball to Jose Enrique, who was galloping behind him on the overlap. Enrique squares the ball in behind the defence across the face of the Newcastle goal, but there's nobody in a red shirt in a position to poke it home.13 min: Right, it's getting as bit boring, now, to be honest. While you couldn't rerally fault either team for effort, the lack of finesse on show here is jaw-dropping, considering this is top flight football from the Best League In The World. Pass after pass is being overhit or misplaced and the game has yet to settle down or find anything resembling a rhythm.11 min: Stewart Downing hits the ball against Ryan Taylor's hand in the Newcastle penalty area and the loud shout for a penalty goes up from the denizens of the Kop. No spot-kick is forthcoming.10 min: Ryan Taylor spots that Gabriel Obertan and laarrups a long cross-field pass towards the corner for the young Frenchman to chase. His pass is as overhit as his intentions were noble and the ball flies out of play.9 min: It's been a lively enough start, with plenty of enthusiastic gadding about by players from both teams, without anything much being created in the way of chances.7 min: Ah, I see now. Liverpool are actually playing a 4-5-1, with Bellamy on the right. More pertinently, does anyone really care?6 min: Daniel Agger advances and advances down the inside left, with nobody in a Newcastle shirt seeming too bothered about stopping him. He eventually decides to try his luck from the edge of the penalty area, but drags his low diagonal effort harmlessly wide4 min: Jordan Henderson appears to have lined up in the centre of Liverpool's midfield, with Charlie Adam taking a wider position. I could be wrong about that, mind. I'm neither Zonal Marking nor at the game.3 min: Nothing comes of the corner and Newcastle break on the counter-attack. Gabriel Obertan tries to send in a cross from the right flank, but his effort drifts high and wide, possibly after taking a deflection.2 min: Glen Johnson wins the first corner of the match for Liverpol, putting the ball out of play off Ryan Taylor.1 min: Game on, with both teams kitted out in the colours with they're most readily associated. Liverpool are playing into the Kop in the first half. Bellamny is played in behind a high Newcastle line and sends a hopeful shot goalwards, but is flagged for offside.An email from Peter Oh: "I agree that King Kenny could have given us something a bit more substantial than nearly quoting verbatim from USA for Africa's We Are The World," he says. "But he has a point. There comes a time, when Liverpool heed a certain call, and the squad must come together as one."How they'll line up: Liverpool look like they'll play a standard 4-4-2, with Jordan Henderson tucked in on the right of midfield, Stewart Downing on the left and Charlie Adam and Jay Spearing in the centre. Newcastle will play a 4-5-1, with their midfield bookended by Gabriel Obertan on the right and Jonas Guttierrez on the left, anchored by Yohan Cabaye, Cheik Tiote and Haris Vuckic in the middle. Demba Ba will play alone up front.Weather report: It is hammering down with rain at Anfield and the men with forks are out prodding the pitch.An email from Phil Sawyer: "Re: the photo caption, '£35m, this cost'," he writes. Very questionable decision for the Guardian to be shelling out this kind of money on a photo largely unproven at the highest level."Nostalgia corner: On Sky they're reliving Liverpool's famous 4-3 win over Newcastle at Anfield in 1996, as seen through the eyes of assorted players who lined up for the Magpies that night: John Beresford, Steve Howey, Lee Clarke and David Ginola. Many people believe it's the greatest Premier League match ever played, but they obviously didn't see Stoke 0-0 Aston Villa earlier this week.Kenny Dalglish speaks: "We'll stick together as a one and then take it from there," says Liverpool's manager. "If we don't concede a goal we'lll buy NFL Jerseys go a long way." To be fair to Kenny, he could have added something more interesting and insightful than that, but my attention was elsewhere as he spoke.Alan Pardew speaks: In his pre-match interview, Newcastle's manager says "there are certain balls you can't defend against Andy Carroll, because if the delivery is right and he gets at them in a certain angle there's nothing you can do." He goes on to say that "stopping crosses" will be a key feature of Newcastle's game-plan tonight.Team news we've yanked from the wires: Strikers Andy Carroll and Craig Bellamy both start for Liverpool against their former club.Club-record signing Carroll keeps his place from Boxing Day's draw with Blackburn while Bellamy replaces Luis Suarez. Jay Spearing comes in for Maxi Rodriguez, the goalscorer against Rovers, while Steven Gerrard starts on the bench. Newcastle make one change from the side which beat Bolton on Monday with 19-year-old midfielder Haris Vuckic making only his second Premier League start - his first having come nine days ago in defeat to West Brom.Liverpool: Reina, Johnson, Skrtel, Agger, Jose Enrique,Henderson, Spearing, Adam, Downing, Carroll, Bellamy. Subs: Doni, Gerrard, Maxi, Kuyt, Carragher, Shelvey, Kelly.Newcastle: Krul, Simpson, Williamson, Coloccini, Ryan Taylor, Obertan, Tiote, Cabaye, Gutierrez, Vuckic, Ba. Subs: Elliot, Santon, Ben Arfa, Perch, Best, Shola Ameobi, Sammy Ameobi.Referee: Lee Probert (Wiltshire)Season's greetings everybody. With assorted holidays conspiring to make it difficult enough to know what day of the week it is around this time of year, the good folk at Premier League Towers have helped add to the general sense of discombobulation by scheduling football on a Friday night this week. Premier League football on a Friday? It just seems weird.Just a single point separates Liverpool and Newcastle United, with the Merseyside club in sixth place in the Premier League table, a solitary place above their Tyneside rivals, who haven't won in the league at Anfield for 16 years. The hosts go into tonight's match with Luis Suarez, who must serve a one-match ban for hoisting his middle digit in the general direction of Fulham fans some weeks ago, which means Andy Carroll is almost certain to start against the club where he made his reputation as a free-scoring battering ram … before quickly losing it in the wake of his highly publicised move to Liverpool last Christmas in a record-breaking £35m deal for a British player. While NFL jerseys cheap Carroll didn't set the large fee and much of the ridicule to have been levelled at him seems a bit unfair, he has been the subject of much criticism since moving to Anfield, for scoring just two goals in 16 appearances and occasionally looking ponderous and on a completely different wavelength to more canny and intelligent team-mates. Having made his first appearance since October coming off the bench against Blackburn Rovers, Steven Gerrard looks a likely starter for Liverpool tonight, while Newcastle may play midfielder Hatem Ben Arfa, who lined up against Bolton in their last outing, from the get-go. For Newcastle, Sylvain Marveaux, Peter Lovenkrands and Steven Taylor are all sidelined through injury. But with Liverpool having drawn against both Manchester clubs, Swansea, Norwich Blackburn Rovers and Sunderland at home this season, the Magpies are likely to be fairly confident of taking a point from tonight's game.Kick-off is at 7.45pm and I'll be back with all the team news and pre-match build-up shortly after 7pm.

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1-Jan-2012 - Liverpool v Newcastle United!

Visted 1 times

33 min: Craig Bellamy wins a corner for Liverpool and sends the ball into the mixer from the left. Skrtel gets a flick on at the near post and the ball fizzes tantalisingly close to Charlie Adam on it's way wide of the far post. 31 min: Here's a stat for you: I'm pretty sure Newcastle have won every single match in which they've scored first this season.GOAL! Liverpool 0-1 Newcastle (Bellamy 28) Charlie Adam driolls the ball across the Newcastle penalty area, it ricochets off a Newcastle defender and sits up nicely for Bellamy. The Liverpool striker picks his spot and smashes the ball into the bottom left-hand corner from 12 or 15 yards out, doing well to avoid the thicket of legs standing between him and the goal.28 min: Having seen that again, I can say with a reasonable amount of confidence that Daniel Agger turned the ball into his own net with an arm.GOAL! Liverpool 0-1 Newcastle (Ba/Agger 25) I'm not sure if that's an Agger own goal or another one on the increasingly long tally of Demba Ba. A deep, raking cross was sent in from the jerseys cheap left by Ryan Taylor, Cabaye got the flick-on and Ba and Agger both rose to head it. The ball hit one, or possibly both, heads (or a head and an arm) to be deflected past a horribly wrong-footed Pepe Reina from about eight yards out.23 min: Demba Ba shakes off his marker and holds the ball up on the left-hand side of the Liverpool penalty area, before trying to pick out Yohan Cabaye with a neat dink. Liverpool clear.22 min: Possession stats: Liverpool 64%-36% Newcastle.22 min: Glenn Johnson tries to slide the ball down the inside right channel, inside Ryan Taylor for Bellamy to chase. It's a fine pass, but Taylor manages to poke it out of the path of a lurking Bellamy with an extended toe.19 min: A misplaced pass from Gabriel Obertan clunks against referee Lee Probert's shins and the ball sits up nicely for Charlie Adam, who tries his luck from distance. The ball whistles wide of the goalframe and Probert shakes his head and blows his cheeks out in relief. There'll be particularly paranoid fans of both clubs reading way too much into that gesture.17 min: According to Sky's man on the touchline, Geoff Shreeves, Andy Carroll just took advantage of a break in play to run back in to his own half and have a go at Glen Johnson for not whipping the ball into him when he has it on the flanks. The full-back waved by way of apology, apparently.16 min: Craig Bellamy takes advantage of hesitation from Danny Simpson and then plays the ball to Jose Enrique, who was galloping behind him on the overlap. Enrique squares the ball in behind the defence across the face of the Newcastle goal, but there's nobody in a red shirt in a position to poke it home.13 min: Right, it's getting as bit boring, now, to be honest. While you couldn't rerally fault either team for effort, the lack of finesse on show here is jaw-dropping, considering this is top flight football from the Best League In The World. Pass after pass is being overhit or misplaced and the game has yet to settle down or find anything resembling a rhythm.11 min: Stewart Downing hits the ball against Ryan Taylor's hand in the Newcastle penalty area and the loud shout for a penalty goes up from the denizens of the Kop. No spot-kick is forthcoming.10 min: Ryan Taylor spots that Gabriel Obertan and laarrups a long cross-field pass towards the corner for the young Frenchman to chase. His pass is as overhit as his intentions were noble and the ball flies out of play.9 min: It's been a lively enough start, with plenty of enthusiastic gadding about by players from both teams, without anything much being created in the way of chances.7 min: Ah, I see now. Liverpool are actually playing a 4-5-1, with Bellamy on the right. More pertinently, does anyone really care?6 min: Daniel Agger advances and advances down the inside left, with nobody in a Newcastle shirt seeming too bothered about stopping him. He eventually decides to try his luck from the edge of the penalty area, but drags his low diagonal effort harmlessly wide4 min: Jordan Henderson appears to have lined up in the centre of Liverpool's midfield, with Charlie Adam taking a wider position. I could be wrong about that, mind. I'm neither Zonal Marking nor at the game.3 min: Nothing comes of the corner and Newcastle break on the counter-attack. Gabriel Obertan tries to send in a cross from the right flank, but his effort drifts high and wide, possibly after taking a deflection.2 min: Glen Johnson wins the first corner of the match for Liverpol, putting the ball out of play off Ryan Taylor.1 min: Game on, with both teams kitted out in the colours with they're most readily associated. Liverpool are playing into the Kop in the first half. Bellamny is played in behind a high Newcastle line and sends a hopeful shot goalwards, but is flagged for offside.An email from Peter Oh: "I agree that King Kenny could have given us something a bit more substantial than nearly quoting verbatim from USA for Africa's We Are The World," he says. "But he has a point. There comes a time, when Liverpool heed a certain call, and the squad must come together as one."How they'll line up: Liverpool look like they'll play a standard 4-4-2, with Jordan Henderson tucked in on the right of midfield, Stewart Downing on the left and Charlie Adam and Jay Spearing in the centre. Newcastle will play a 4-5-1, with their midfield bookended by Gabriel Obertan on the right and Jonas Guttierrez on the left, anchored by Yohan Cabaye, Cheik Tiote and Haris Vuckic in the middle. Demba Ba will play alone up front.Weather report: It is hammering down with rain at Anfield and the men with forks are out prodding the pitch.An email from Phil Sawyer: "Re: the photo NFL jerseys china caption, '£35m, this cost'," he writes. Very questionable decision for the Guardian to be shelling out this kind of money on a photo largely unproven at the highest level."Nostalgia corner: On Sky they're reliving Liverpool's famous 4-3 win over Newcastle at Anfield in 1996, as seen through the eyes of assorted players who lined up for the Magpies that night: John Beresford, Steve Howey, Lee Clarke and David Ginola. Many people believe it's the greatest Premier League match ever played, but they obviously didn't see Stoke 0-0 Aston Villa earlier this week.Kenny Dalglish speaks: "We'll stick together as a one and then take it from there," says Liverpool's manager. "If we don't concede a goal we'lll go a long way." To be fair to Kenny, he could have added something more interesting and insightful than that, but my attention was elsewhere as he spoke.Alan Pardew speaks: In his pre-match interview, Newcastle's manager says "there are certain balls you can't defend against Andy Carroll, because if the delivery is right and he gets at them in a certain angle there's nothing you can do." He goes on to say that "stopping crosses" will be a key feature of Newcastle's game-plan tonight.Team news we've yanked from the wires: Strikers Andy Carroll and Craig Bellamy both start for Liverpool against their former club.Club-record signing Carroll keeps his place from Boxing Day's draw with Blackburn while Bellamy replaces Luis Suarez. Jay Spearing comes in for Maxi Rodriguez, the goalscorer against Rovers, while Steven Gerrard starts on the bench. Newcastle make one change from the side which beat Bolton on Monday with 19-year-old midfielder Haris Vuckic making only his second Premier League start - his first having come nine days ago in defeat to West Brom.Liverpool: Reina, Johnson, Skrtel, Agger, Jose Enrique,Henderson, Spearing, Adam, Downing, Carroll, Bellamy. Subs: Doni, Gerrard, Maxi, Kuyt, Carragher, Shelvey, Kelly.Newcastle: Krul, Simpson, Williamson, Coloccini, Ryan Taylor, Obertan, Tiote, Cabaye, Gutierrez, Vuckic, Ba. Subs: Elliot, Santon, Ben Arfa, Perch, Best, Shola Ameobi, Sammy Ameobi.Referee: Lee Probert (Wiltshire)Season's greetings everybody. With assorted holidays conspiring to make it difficult enough to know what day of the week it is around this time of year, the good folk at Premier League Towers have helped add to the general sense of discombobulation by scheduling football on a Friday night this week. Premier League football cheap NFL jerseys on a Friday? It just seems weird.Just a single point separates Liverpool and Newcastle United, with the Merseyside club in sixth place in the Premier League table, a solitary place above their Tyneside rivals, who haven't won in the league at Anfield for 16 years. The hosts go into tonight's match with Luis Suarez, who must serve a one-match ban for hoisting his middle digit in the general direction of Fulham fans some weeks ago, which means Andy Carroll is almost certain to start against the club where he made his reputation as a free-scoring battering ram … before quickly losing it in the wake of his highly publicised move to Liverpool last Christmas in a record-breaking £35m deal for a British player. While Carroll didn't set the large fee and much of the ridicule to have been levelled at him seems a bit unfair, he has been the subject of much criticism since moving to Anfield, for scoring just two goals in 16 appearances and occasionally looking ponderous and on a completely different wavelength to more canny and intelligent team-mates. Having made his first appearance since October coming off the bench against Blackburn Rovers, Steven Gerrard looks a likely starter for Liverpool tonight, while Newcastle may play midfielder Hatem Ben Arfa, who lined up against Bolton in their last outing, from the get-go. For Newcastle, Sylvain Marveaux, Peter Lovenkrands and Steven Taylor are all sidelined through injury. But with Liverpool having drawn against both Manchester clubs, Swansea, Norwich Blackburn Rovers and Sunderland at home this season, the Magpies are likely to be fairly confident of taking a point from tonight's game.Kick-off is at 7.45pm and I'll be back with all the team news and pre-match build-up shortly after 7pm.

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1-Jan-2012 - Liverpool v Newcastle United!

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33 min: Craig Bellamy wins a corner for Liverpool and sends the ball into the mixer from the left. Skrtel gets a flick on at the near post and the ball fizzes tantalisingly close to Charlie Adam on it's way wide of the far post. 31 min: Here's a stat for you: I'm pretty sure Newcastle have won every single match in which they've scored first this season.GOAL! Liverpool 0-1 Newcastle (Bellamy 28) Charlie Adam driolls the ball across the Newcastle penalty area, it ricochets off a Newcastle defender and sits up nicely for Bellamy. The Liverpool striker picks his spot and smashes the ball into the bottom left-hand corner from 12 or 15 yards out, doing well to avoid the thicket of legs standing between him and the goal.28 min: Having seen that again, I can say with a reasonable amount of confidence that Daniel Agger turned the ball into his own net with an arm.GOAL! Liverpool 0-1 Newcastle (Ba/Agger 25) I'm not sure if that's an Agger own goal or another one on the increasingly long tally of Demba Ba. A deep, raking cross was sent in from the left by Ryan Taylor, Cabaye got the flick-on and Ba and Agger both rose to head it. The ball hit one, or possibly both, heads (or a head and an arm) to be deflected past a horribly wrong-footed Pepe Reina from about eight yards out.23 min: Demba Ba shakes off his marker and holds the ball up on the left-hand side of the Liverpool penalty area, before trying to pick out Yohan Cabaye with a neat dink. Liverpool clear.22 min: Possession stats: Liverpool 64%-36% Newcastle.22 min: Glenn Johnson tries to slide the ball down the inside right channel, inside Ryan Taylor for Bellamy to chase. It's a fine pass, but Taylor manages to poke it out of the path of a lurking Bellamy with an extended toe.19 min: A misplaced pass from Gabriel Obertan clunks against referee Lee Probert's shins and the ball sits up nicely for Charlie Adam, who tries his luck from distance. The ball whistles wide of the goalframe and Probert shakes his head and blows his cheeks out in relief. There'll be particularly paranoid fans of both clubs reading way too much into that gesture.17 min: According to Sky's man on the touchline, Geoff Shreeves, Andy Carroll just took advantage of a break in play to run back in to his own half and have a go at Glen Johnson for not whipping the ball into him when he has it on the flanks. NFL jersey supply The full-back waved by way of apology, apparently.16 min: Craig Bellamy takes advantage of hesitation from Danny Simpson and then plays the ball to Jose Enrique, who was galloping behind him on the overlap. Enrique squares the ball in behind the defence across the face of the Newcastle goal, but there's nobody in a red shirt in a position to poke it home.13 min: Right, it's getting as bit boring, now, to be honest. While you couldn't rerally fault either team for effort, the lack of finesse on show here is jaw-dropping, considering this is top flight football from the Best League In The World. Pass after pass is being overhit or misplaced and the game has yet to settle down or find anything resembling a rhythm.11 min: Stewart Downing hits the ball against Ryan Taylor's hand in the Newcastle penalty area and the loud shout for a penalty goes up from the denizens of the Kop. No spot-kick is forthcoming.10 min: Ryan Taylor spots that Gabriel Obertan and laarrups a long cross-field pass towards the corner for the young Frenchman to chase. His pass is as overhit as his intentions were noble and the ball flies out of play.9 min: It's been a lively enough start, with plenty of enthusiastic gadding about by players from both teams, without anything much being created in the way of chances.7 min: Ah, I see now. Liverpool are actually playing a 4-5-1, with Bellamy on the right. More pertinently, does anyone really care?6 min: Daniel Agger advances and advances down the inside left, with nobody in a Newcastle shirt seeming too bothered about stopping him. He eventually decides to try his luck from the edge of the penalty area, but drags his low diagonal effort harmlessly wide4 min: Jordan Henderson appears to have lined up in the centre of Liverpool's midfield, with Charlie Adam taking a wider position. I could be wrong about that, mind. I'm neither Zonal Marking nor at the game.3 min: Nothing comes of the corner and Newcastle break on the counter-attack. Gabriel Obertan tries to send in a cross from the right flank, but his effort drifts high and wide, possibly after taking a deflection.2 min: Glen Johnson wins the first corner of the match for Liverpol, putting the ball out of play off Ryan Taylor.1 min: Game on, with both teams kitted out in the colours with they're most readily associated. Liverpool are playing into the Kop in the first half. Bellamny is played in behind a high Newcastle line and sends a hopeful shot goalwards, but is flagged for offside.An email from Peter Oh: "I agree that King Kenny could have given us something a bit more substantial than nearly quoting verbatim from USA for Africa's We Are The World," he says. "But he has a point. There comes a time, when Liverpool heed a certain call, and the squad must NHL jerseys come together as one."How they'll line up: Liverpool look like they'll play a standard 4-4-2, with Jordan Henderson tucked in on the right of midfield, Stewart Downing on the left and Charlie Adam and Jay Spearing in the centre. Newcastle will play a 4-5-1, with their midfield bookended by Gabriel Obertan on the right and Jonas Guttierrez on the left, anchored by Yohan Cabaye, Cheik Tiote and Haris Vuckic in the middle. Demba Ba will play alone up front.Weather report: It is hammering down with rain at Anfield and the men with forks are out prodding the pitch.An email from Phil Sawyer: "Re: the photo caption, '£35m, this cost'," he writes. Very questionable decision for the Guardian to be shelling out this kind of money on a photo largely unproven at the highest level."Nostalgia corner: On Sky they're reliving Liverpool's famous 4-3 win over Newcastle at Anfield in 1996, as seen through the eyes of assorted players who lined up for the Magpies that night: John Beresford, Steve Howey, Lee Clarke and David Ginola. Many people believe it's the greatest Premier League match ever played, but they obviously didn't see Stoke 0-0 Aston Villa earlier this week.Kenny Dalglish speaks: "We'll stick together as a one and then take it from there," says Liverpool's manager. "If we don't concede a goal we'lll go a long way." To be fair to Kenny, he could have added something more interesting and insightful than that, but my attention was elsewhere as he spoke.Alan Pardew speaks: In his pre-match interview, Newcastle's manager says "there are certain balls you can't defend against Andy Carroll, because if the delivery is right and he gets at them in a certain angle there's nothing you can do." He goes on to say that "stopping crosses" will be a key feature of Newcastle's game-plan tonight.Team news we've yanked from the wires: Strikers Andy Carroll and Craig Bellamy both start for Liverpool against their former club.Club-record signing Carroll keeps his place from Boxing Day's draw with Blackburn while Bellamy replaces Luis Suarez. Jay Spearing comes in for Maxi Rodriguez, the goalscorer against Rovers, while Steven Gerrard starts on the bench. Newcastle make one change from the side which beat Bolton on Monday with 19-year-old midfielder Haris Vuckic making only his second Premier League start - his first having come nine days ago in defeat to West Brom.Liverpool: Reina, Johnson, Skrtel, Agger, Jose Enrique,Henderson, Spearing, Adam, Downing, Carroll, Bellamy. Subs: Doni, Gerrard, Maxi, Kuyt, Carragher, Shelvey, Kelly.Newcastle: Krul, Simpson, Williamson, Coloccini, Ryan Taylor, Obertan, Tiote, Cabaye, Gutierrez, Vuckic, Ba. Subs: Elliot, Santon, Ben Arfa, Perch, Best, Shola Ameobi, Sammy Ameobi.Referee: Lee Probert (Wiltshire)Season's greetings everybody. With assorted holidays conspiring to make it difficult enough to know what day of the week it is around this time of year, the good folk at Premier League Towers have helped add to the general sense of discombobulation by scheduling football on a Friday night this week. Premier League football on a Friday? It just seems weird.Just a single point separates Liverpool and Newcastle United, with the Merseyside club in sixth place in the Premier League table, a solitary place above their Tyneside rivals, who haven't won in the league at Anfield for 16 years. The hosts go into tonight's match with Luis Suarez, who must serve a one-match ban for hoisting his middle digit in the general direction of Fulham fans some weeks ago, which means Andy Carroll is almost certain to start against the club where he made his reputation as a free-scoring battering ram … before quickly losing it in the wake of his highly publicised move to Liverpool last Christmas in a record-breaking £35m deal for a British player. While Carroll didn't set the large fee and much of the ridicule to have been levelled at him seems a bit unfair, he has been the subject of much criticism since moving to Anfield, for scoring just two goals in 16 appearances and occasionally looking ponderous and on a completely different wavelength to more canny and intelligent team-mates. Having made his first appearance since October coming off the bench against Blackburn Rovers, Steven Gerrard looks a likely starter for Liverpool tonight, while Newcastle may play midfielder Hatem Ben Arfa, who lined up against Bolton in their last outing, from the get-go. For Newcastle, Sylvain Marveaux, Peter Lovenkrands and Steven Taylor are all sidelined through injury. But with Liverpool having drawn against both Manchester clubs, Swansea, Norwich Blackburn Rovers and Sunderland at home this season, the Magpies are likely to be fairly confident of taking a point from tonight's game.Kick-off is at 7.45pm and I'll be back with all the team news and pre-match build-up shortly after 7pm.

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