Newcastle cause more away day misery for Reds

Liverpool crashed to their sixth away defeat of the season on Saturday as goals from Kevin Nolan, Joey Barton and Andy Carroll sealed a crucial 3-1 win for Alan Pardew's side in his first game in charge of the Toon following the controversial sacking of former manager Chris Hughton.

Fernando Torres returned to the side after the birth of his second son and partnered French striker David Ngog up front as Ryan Babel was dropped to the subs bench despite his excellent goal and performance at home to Villa on Monday. Hodgson persisted with the 4-4-2 formation used in recent weeks as Lucas and Meireles started in the centre with Kuyt and Maxi providing width on either flank.

The visitors started the brighter with Argentina international Maxi Rodriguez shooting high over the bar before Sotirios Kyrgiakos smashed a powerful strike goalwards that forced Newcastle keeper Tim Krul into a good save.

However, the home side claimed the initiative with the vital first goal on 15 minutes. Barton clipped a clever ball into the box where Carroll rose above Skrtel to head to Nolan, who had the simple task of tapping home from close range after he'd beaten Liverpool left back Paul Konchesky to the knock down.

It was incredibly frustrating for the Reds because that was the first sight of goal the Toon had had, however we almost responded in the perfect fashion only five minutes later when Glen Johnson picked out the great run of Maxi Rodriguez. Unfortunately he could only divert his header over the bar when well placed.

The quiet Fernando Torres smashed a right footed free kick wastefully into the wall on 26 minutes before Ameobi and Carroll combined superbly on the half hour mark to set up the tall Geordie striker. Thankfully his low, drilled effort was well held by Pepe Reina in the Liverpool goal.

Portugese midfielder Raul Meireles then nearly went from hero to zero in the space of three minutes. First his fierce strike deflected dangerously towards the corner of the goal but Enrique was there to clear off the line for the home side. After that his lazy and sloppy pass gifted a brilliant opportunity to Shola Ameobi, who saw his right-footed strike deflect perilously across Reina's goal and fortunately a foot wide of the target.

Liverpool ended the half on top and could have easily gone in at the break on level terms. A minute before the interval Maxi appealed in vain for a spot kick after he had went down under the challenge of Steven Taylor on the edge of the box. Frustratingly referee Lee Mason wasn't interested, however the Reds had another glorious opportunity to draw level only a minute later when Kyrgiakos' thumping header from Meireles' corner landed just the wrong side of the far post.

Hodgson's side had failed to secure an equaliser before the break however they didn't have to wait much longer for a goal to arrive. After a scrappy start to the second half Dirk Kuyt's equalising goal was suitably scrappy as the Dutchman's low and weak shot ricocheted off Taylor and rolled just past the grasp of Krul and into the far corner of the goal.

It was an unattractive goal but we didn't care as the Reds were finally back on level terms and in the contest once again. The momentum gained from the goal was then taken into the next 15 minutes as Liverpool searched for a second to put them firmly in the driving seat.

After 52 minutes Torres had a headed chance at the far post but he couldn't find sufficient power to beat Krul, and only a minute later he had an even better opportunity as a fantastic defence-splitting ball from Konchesky gave the Spanish striker a clear sight of goal as he went one-on-one with the keeper. Unfortunately his shot lacked any sort of conviction and Krul managed to make a good stop to prevent Liverpool taking the lead.

At the other end Liverpool had a huge let off as Carroll headed over when unmarked from a great Barton cross before a headed interception from Brazilian midfielder Lucas Leiva travelled to Torres in space on the edge of the box. He just missed the far post with a fine drive as the match became an end-to-end encounter.

19-year old Newcastle forward Nile Ranger replaced Shola Ameobi on the hour mark and almost made an immediate impact on the game as he fired inches past the far post after easily shrugging off Skrtel, who had fell to the floor embarrassingly easily under pressure from the substitute. More good play from Ranger forced Soto into an excellent last-ditch tackle moments later before the influential Toon striker linked up well with Ivorian Tiote only for the Newcastle midfielder to fire over the bar with 15 minutes remaining.

Newcastle were now firmly on top and the visitors were struggling to get out of their own half as they sat deep looking to cling on to a precious point. This negative approach was duly punished by the hosts when they claimed a crucial lead with only 10 minutes left to play as Liverpool's poor and unorganised defence failed to deal with a long ball. Andy Carroll won the ball unsurprisingly in the air and Scouser Joey Barton raced past the awful Skrtel to reach the loose ball and slot the ball beyond Reina and into the net.

The home side then put the final nail in the coffin during injury time as yet more unacceptable defending cost Hodgson's side dearly. The reluctant Lucas afforded Andrew Carroll all the time in the world to drill a brilliant strike into the corner of the net from 25-yards out as our defensive frailties away from home were clearly revealed by a determined and purposeful Newcastle side.

Alarmingly Liverpool have now recorded only a single victory on the road in our last nine away matches. Far more worryingly current boss Roy Hodgson has only managed to secure one victory in his last 27 away games. That statistic is both dreadful and unacceptable in equal measure, and must be reversed if we are to become anything other than the mid-table team Hodgson seems hell-bent on making us.

While one win in nine is disappointing and displays a severe patch of bad form it can be changed through hard work, determination and an element of good fortune. However, a record as bad as Hodgson's shows no sign of ever improving. Such a deep malaise away from home for Hodgson appears to be a fatal fault of his and I simply cannot see it changing any time soon, if at all.

Mercifully three of our next four League matches are at Anfield, which should allow us to rack up some much-needed points over the Christmas spell, however this will not remove or solve the problem of our simply pathetic away form.

It must be only a matter of time now before NESV act to change our fortunes away from home with the removal of the much-maligned Roy Hodgson.

YNWA