Newcastle hold Reds despite superb Suarez strike

A sensational strike from Luis Suarez (who else?) secured a 1-1 draw for Liverpool at home to Newcastle United yesterday. After a first half that they dominated ended with Cabaye netting a fantastic opener against the run of play at the Kop end, the Reds responded in the second half through the Uruguayan, who bagged his seventh goal in the last nine League matches to quash Newcastle's hopes of ending their 17-match run without a win at Anfield.

Before kick-off captain Steven Gerrard was presented with a red Liverbird by Gary McAllister for achieving the remarkable feat of 600 appearances for Liverpool, which is a figure reached by only nine other players.

Captain fantastic reaches 600 not out

Liverpool were undeniably in the ascendancy when the action began. In fact, apart from Cabaye's goal, the closest Newcastle came to scoring in the first half was when Demba Ba struck hopelessly high into the Kop after a quarter of an hour. 

Suarez and Gerrard were inevitably at the heart of the hosts' attack, the latter forcing Krul into a save from his free kick only a minute in and the former curling agonisingly wide from a set piece as well as shooting against the Newcastle keeper's legs. Youngster Suso also posed a threat, shimmying into the box on 40 minutes only to see his shot deflected just wide, but Suarez remained the fulcrum of the Reds' attack, occasionally lacking support from his teammates in crucial areas. 

Newcastle's sucker-punch arrived two minutes before the break. After Andre Wisdom's foul throw, Hatem Ben Arfa beat Enrique far too easily and sent a cross to the back post, where Yohan Cabaye sent a sensational angled volley flying past Brad Jones and into the top right hand corner.

Cabaye celebrates breaking the deadlock

Anfield was rightly stunned, both at the magnificence of the strike and the fact that, yet again, Liverpool were entering the interval trailing despite absolutely dominating the contest and creating far more goalscoring chances than their opponents. 

Although Liverpool didn't create the same volume of chances in the second period, the momentum remained firmly in their favour and, after Suarez's snapshot tested Krul, the number seven combined with former Newcastle defender Jose Enrique to equalise for the Merseysiders. Enrique had terrific vision to pick out a long ball forward to Suarez, who awesomely evaded Coloccini, controlled the ball on his chest, rounded Krul and tapped home into an unguarded net from yards out.

Eyes on the prize- Suarez's close concentration helps him to equalise

It was a goal of the month, if not goal of the season contender from the majestic Suarez, who promptly picked the ball out of the net and ran back to the half way line, displaying his desire to get the game started again and push on for a winner.

Soon after, Suarez constructed two gilt-edged chances to grab that winner, which Shelvey and Sterling failed to convert. First, the Uruguyuan's tenacity paid off as he evaded a couple of defenders before putting the ball on a plate for Shelvey. To the frustration of the vast majority inside Anfield, Shelvey fluffed his lines and failed to connect sufficiently to find the back of the net. Then, Sterling hesitated momentarily after being played clean through by Suarez. This allowed Taylor to recover and slide in to make an impressive block tackle. 

Suarez remained at the heart of the action during the closing stages, as Coloccini, who he'd tormented throughout the match with his silky skills, was shown a straight red for a horrendous tackle on him. Although contact was minimal, Coloccini clearly intended to inflict serious harm on Suarez and, if he hadn't missed Suarez, Liverpool's only striker could have been severely injured.

There was still time for Shelvey to go close twice but, nonetheless, the ten-men of Newcastle managed to hold on to their undeserved point. 

Arguably the most frustrating fact about yesterday's match was that it was a caricature of Liverpool not only during this season, but over the last few campaigns. We dominated possession and created more chances but, because of our reliance on a single striker, lacked a cutting edge and ended up drawing a match at home that we really should have won. This clear trend cannot be blamed on bad luck, though, and the evidence that Liverpool aren't clinical enough in front of goal is continually accumulating. 

Rodgers clearly needs to purchase at least one new striker in January and, until then, he must encourage more midfielders to get forward and support Suarez, allowing him to drift into space and work his delightful magic. 

YNWA