Soccer/ Liverpool 2 Newcastle Utd 0: Michael Owen retreated ashen-faced to Tyneside last night with the jeers of those who once adored him haunting his thoughts and defeat chilling his soul. If the striker had hoped to be welcomed back, then this was a humiliating rejection; those on the Kop have not forgiven him his departure for Madrid 16 months ago.
The home fans were merciless, the smattering of boos which accompanied his name when it was delivered over the Tannoy pre-match escalating to a full-scale eruption when he received possession for the first time. Once Liverpool had eased their way into the lead, the abuse was bellowed. "Where were you in Istanbul?" slipped into "You should have signed for a big club", though it was the strains of "What a waste of talent" which must have cut Owen deepest.
The forward was peripheral here. There was a conciliatory hug from Steven Gerrard and John Arne Riise at the final whistle, and a shared word with Jamie Carragher but that was as good as Owen got. "His reception was very disappointing," said Gerrard. "He's a legend here but the fans didn't want to see him go in the first place. He deserves a standing ovation . . ."
Owen could be forgiven a suffocating sense of regret. The scoreline may have suggested the hosts had won narrowly but it was deceptive. Newcastle started poorly and, once their game plan had been exposed as utterly ineffective, were aimless. By the time Lee Bowyer scythed into Xabi Alonso midway though the second half, an ugly challenge to prompt a brawl which briefly had all 22 players just inside Liverpool territory, this game was lost.
The midfielder had been riled by Fernando Morientes' earlier tackle but will miss his side's remaining matches over the festive period, having repeated his dismissal from this fixture a year previously. Peter Crouch pushing Bowyer to the turf might have warranted worse than a yellow card though the handbags centred more on Gerrard and Alan Shearer. Graeme Souness said: "I've been told by people who were involved that others should have seen a red card, too. I suppose, away from home, if you raise your feet and leave the ground you're in trouble but I don't think Bowyer was the only one who should have gone."
Liverpool might have been three goals up, with Harry Kewell thwarted wondrously by Shay Given, before Luis Garcia's centre from the right was laid off by Crouch for Gerrard, on the edge of the area, to veer away from Steven Taylor and belt a shot to the net.
The visitors lost their centre-half before the half-hour, Taylor's shoulder popping, with surgery and a 12-week rehabilitation to come. His replacement Titus Bramble's every nervous touch was cheered gleefully.
Given's excellence retained some semblance of order until Morientes slipped Kewell down the left with his cross headed down by Crouch on the edge of the six-yard box. The goalkeeper turned the attempt on to the post, only for the ball to dribble back, brushing his shoulder en route, and bobble over the line before Given could paw away. The Premier League's Dubious Goals Panel meets regularly these days to discuss Crouch's plunder. "You've got to give me that one, surely," said the striker. They most likely will.
Nolberto Solano might have been dismissed for hand-ball on his goalline but, the odd flash from Albert Luque aside, the hosts were rarely threatened; an eighth consecutive league clean sheet equals the club record established in March 1923.
Not since Liverpool were champions of England and embarking on Kenny Dalglish's last campaign as manager have they won eight top-flight games in succession. The current crop might yet scale similar heights and every triumph they enjoy will choke Owen. His only sight of goal was snuffed out by Riise.
* Guardian Service
