Liverpool 2 Newcastle United 1: Liverpool rounded off their season with a narrow victory over nine-man Newcastle, but it was not enough to end the Anfield side's 24-year wait for the title.
Daniel Agger and Daniel Sturridge scored within two minutes of each other to give Liverpool a 2-1 win over Newcastle, who had gone ahead through Martin Skrtel's fourth own goal of the season.
But the celebrations at Anfield were kept to a minimum as Manchester City beat West Ham 2-0 to win the Barclays Premier League. In the first half Liverpool were well below their best. Newcastle, who had Paul Dummett and Shola Ameobi dismissed, could have been 3-0 up at the break.
But after the restart, Liverpool displayed glimpses of the kind of swashbuckling play that Reds fans and neutrals alike have enjoyed all year. The Liverpool fans hailed Rodgers at the final whistle, and they had every reason to.
After all he is responsible for taking the club from seventh to second within a year. He is the man who has turned Jordan Henderson, Raheem Sterling and Sturridge from average players with potential to top-class performers and he has managed to get the best out of Steven Gerrard and Luis Suarez.
But a little part of the Liverpool manager must have been thinking ‘what if’ as he stood on the touchline at the final whistle.
What if Steven Gerrard had not slipped here two weeks ago, handing Chelsea their crucial win at Anfield? What if his team had not conceded three goals in nine minutes at Crystal Palace last week?
Liverpool have taken huge strides under Rodgers — this is only their second top-two finish in 11 years, and there will be Champions League football at Anfield next season.
But Liverpool were five points clear with three games left, and that will statistic will stick in Rodgers' mind for quite some time. A group of Manchester United fans clubbed together to remind Liverpool's captain about his lack of Premier League silverware. 'United 20 Gerrard 0' read the banner which trailed behind a light aircraft which flew over Anfield at kick-off.
Gerrard tried to grab the game by the scruff of the neck after the first whistle. The rest of his team-mates froze though, seemingly paralysed by the pressure of knowing this could be the day they won their first title since 1990.
Liverpool could not string five passes together, their tempo was slow and their movement poor. Newcastle made it clear they were here to spoil the party.
Moussa Sissoko found Ameobi in the box after seven minutes, but the striker made a real hash of his header. Rodgers was up in arms moments later when Sterling went down under pressure from Mathieu Debuchy, but referee Phil Dowd waved play on.
The Liverpool manager wheeled away in celebration three minutes later when Suarez lobbed Tim Krul from the right touchline, but Dowd ruled the Uruguayan had taken the quick free-kick when the ball was still rolling.
Liverpool's growing confidence was punctured by Skrtel. The Slovakian stuck out his right leg trying to prevent Yoan Gouffran's cross finding Ameobi. The ball flew off Skrtel's right shin and beyond Simon Mignolet.
He could not have finished it better if he had tried. Suarez, Gerrard and Sterling all failed with simple passes and the pessimism inside Anfield grew. The ambience inside Liverpool would have been far worse had Mignolet not saved expertly from Gouffran, who was one-on-one with the Liverpool stopper.
The news of City’s 39th minute opener filtered through to the home supporters — some of whom had radios pressed to their ears. Sturridge headed well wide from five yards to deepen their misery.
Rodgers brought Aly Cissokho on for Jon Flanagan at half-time and Liverpool improved, with Sterling testing Krul with a low drive. But with City now 2-0 up, it no longer mattered what happened at Anfield.
That did not stop Liverpool fighting, though. Agger gained half a yard on Debuchy and diverted the ball past Krul from Gerrard’s free-kick to equalise. Anfield finally came to life as the home support urged their team to find a second.
Less than two minutes after Agger's goal, Sturridge made it 2-1 from almost exactly the same position as the centre-back. Cheick Tiote fouled substitute Philippe Coutinho 25 yards out.
Gerrard whipped the ball to the back post again and Sturridge tapped his 21st Premier League goal of the season in from two yards.
Ameobi did his team no favours by getting sent off straight after the goal when he argued with Dowd in the centre circle as he was about to restart the game.
The referee showed Ameobi a yellow card and when the striker continued his protests, he sent him off. Agger missed an easy header from five yards with 10 minutes left before Dummett saw red three minutes from the end for kicking Suarez.
Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers was understandably disappointed as the celebrations at Anfield were kept to a minimum.
odgers told Sky Sports: “We played very very well but we were unable to get the result. “The players have been absolutely great... and this run to give us a chance of winning the title, it’s been an incredible run for us and 12 wins out of 14 shows that this is a group that can cope with pressure and we’ll learn from — anything we can from the last part of the season and take it into next season.”
Asked whether he believes the Reds can fight back next term, Rodgers added: “Absolutely. We came second to an outstanding squad. Congratulations to Manchester City they won the league with an excellent manager and a group of world-class players so congratulations to them.
“We’ve taken them all the way to the very last game of the season. A team that finished seventh last year.
“And we know that we’ll get better because we’ve got a lot of improvements to make in the squad and we’ll continue to grow and improve.”
