At 9:40pm I had the first line of this match report written: "When will Newcastle United ever learn?" Well, in the 10 minutes that followed they proceeded to learn all you will ever need to know about unlocking the Reds once impervious rearguard. If your team has pace, a touch of skill and one iota of intelligence and Liverpool have Abel Xavier then you night as well crack open the bubbly before kick-off.
It is impossible to comprehend how we would have come anywhere near close to dropping two points if the hapless No.3 had not implausibly been allowed to take the field by our manager. This was a wonderful Liverpool display and we will not play better for the rest of the campaign without picking up all three points. That performance was utterly ruined by GH's stubbornness in picking the (former) Portuguese international, when fans' hero (well to some of us anyway) Jamie Carragher is fully fit and raring to go.
In truth the blame for tonight's somewhat freak occurrence and the totally different tone that this report was set to take, cannot lay solely at the feet of GH's boy Abel, even though he is the personification of ineptitude. We played some wonderful football tonight, which bodes very well for the rest of the campaign, but in doing so we missed countless - and I mean countless - chances to put this game well beyond the Geordies, who yet again insisted on defending not far short of the half-way line.
Despite finally netting his first goal of the season from the penalty spot, Michael Owen will wonder how he is not top of the Premiership goalscoring charts based on tonight's game alone. I lost count (again) of how many times I found myself screaming "Go on Michael" at the top of my voice as he found himself in more goalscoring positions that he could have possibly dreamt of before kick-off. Unfortunately for us and him, the hat-trick that I had been predicting all week did not materialise. It should have done.
Owen's lack of fortune in front of goal contributed almost solely to the score remarkably remaining goal-less at half time. Right from the off, it seemed that the annual Geordie massacre was to be something of a formality. With Gerrard and Murphy at the centre of everything, the magnificent Hamann allowing the Magpies no respite whatsoever, Smicer's intricate little flicks and with an exceptionally sharp and goal hungry Owen, the goals were sure to flow?
With each chance that Michael squandered, one can only imagine what he was going through, because from the stands the frustration was almost unbearable. This was such a shame, because he is absolutely red-hot at the moment and is as close to the real Michael Owen as we are going to see, simply without the goals that he will no doubt be judged on.
Tonight he was running at defenders, linking the play superbly and getting into the positions that will undoubtedly see a glut of goals sooner rather than later.
But he is simply having no luck whatsoever. Tonight all of his chances fell to his left foot, which he will be the first to admit is not his strongest. The very fact that Michael was prepared to take the chances on his left foot is a great sign, as countless times we have seen him stutter back on to his right foot when the goals are in short supply.
The first opportunity was vintage Owen. Picking the ball up 40 yards out after Djimi Traore - who enjoyed his finest performance in a Liverpool shirt - had made a magnificent interception he turned Dabizas inside-out before forging himself a clean strike on goal, beating Shay Given only to see his shot cleared off the line by Aaron Hughes.
Dabizas' insistence that he was not going to concentrate too much on Owen ahead of this game, was a serious act of denial. The Greek international is a pretty good defender, but has been terrorised by Owen on every single occasion that the two have been in opposition.
Another chance soon fell to Owen who capitalised on Titus Bramble's attempt to continue his generosity to the Reds following the respective 6-0 and 5-0 beatings inflicted last season on his former club Ipswich. Bramble's ineptitude and a mix-up with Shay Given saw Owen again run clear but Given was able to recover as Owen tried to guide the ball into the empty net, again with his left foot.
The third and best chance, once again arose following yet another defensive mix up as St. Michael blazed miles wide as he tried a left foot curler, leaving him flat on his back, with the roar of disbelief from the Anfield crowd ringing in his ears.
Thankfully the response from the fans was wonderful, which would have displeased former Echo Sports Editor Ken Rogers no-end. Chants of "There's only One Michael Owen" were the loudest of the night.
Michael wasn't the only one guilty of squandering chances; further efforts from Emile Heskey and Didi Hamann failed to find the net for the Reds, with Lua Lua and Viana coming closest for the visitors in a half in which they were barely allowed a kick by a dominant Liverpool outfit.
The crowd experienced another scare shortly before half time as Steven Gerrard lay sprawled across the Anfield turf, which received the customary collective: "Oh Shit"
The surprise that Gerrard returned to the proceedings was only upstaged by the fact that Liverpool were not already across the finishing line. Still it was a huge relief to see Stevie come back on to the pitch, albeit limping heavily.
If the first half wasn't enough of an awakening for Sir Bobby Robson's men, then the commencement of second half proceedings surely did the job. Owen could have netted again before Liverpool finally broke the deadlock on 53 minutes as Star Man, Didi Hamann robbed the highly overrated, overmatched and slightly podgy looking Kieron Dyer to run onto the loose ball and expertly slid the ball underneath Given's dive.
It was just desserts for Didi, whose performance in midfield was as good as I've ever seen from him, which is really saying something. It must have also been nice for Didi to stick it to the travelling mob of shaven-headed loons, whose delusions stretch beyond the imaginable. "One Greedy Bastard" was the chant from the visiting fans who kid themselves into believing that Hamann left Ruud Gullit's dysfunctional family simply for the money. Yet another fallen messiah to them I guess. Deadbeats.
A quality little scuffle between Dyer and Gary Speed had ensued just before the reds took the lead and now with our tails up who would have bet against us sealing all three points.
Speed and Dyer eh? I'd pay good money to see those two knock 7 shades of shit out of each other. For some reason I have a real aversion to Kieron Dyer. He's a whining little shit who seems to have a real attitude about him and for someone who plays about 4 games a season it is hardly justified. Frankly I was made up when he got his injury just before the World Cup.
Another moaning, bitching, whingebag is Alan Shearer. Now I have a great amount of respect for Shearer, the player and Shearer the man, but he's the type of guy you can imagine moaning like an old woman when the team bus is late or something. I suppose that happens when the years catch-up with you (or when you come up against Sami and Steph). Still you can never write him off. He says with hindsight.
Further Owen half-chances followed before he was finally granted the opportunity to open his account from the spot following Dabizas' ridiculous foul on Hyypia. Murphy and Gerrard both wished him well as he bravely stepped up to take the spot-kick and with about as little fuss as you'd expect from the European Footballer of the year he sent given the wrong way for 2-0.
A massive sigh of relief from both Michael and the crowd ensued as he thanked the Kop for their earlier support with a clap. A very nice touch. It seems that finally the more unappreciative members of the Anfield crowd are finally realising what a talent we have in our midst.
The Reds continued to push forward in quest of a third goal, with Heskey coming closest with a back post header. Sensing the danger, Sir Bobby pulled a little masterstroke of his own by bringing on Robert, Bellamy and Jenas, in as much of an attempt to curtail Liverpool's willingness to attack as to launch a comeback.
Robert and Bellamy up against Xavier was Newcastle's ticket back into this football match and by god they knew it. Attacking him at every opportunity, Newcastle terrorised and indeed made a fool out of Xavier on several occasions, as if he wasn't doing a good enough job of that himself.
The warning signs were there as he allowed Robert to cut inside, drawing virtually the whole defence out to cover for him as Robert shot was magnificently turned onto the post by Dudek and when it seemed that Shearer would tap-in, the moaning old woman fluffed what looked like an easy follow up, allowing Traore to clear.
The warning unfortunately was not heeded as an unmarked Gary Speed tucked away, after Steph - for the umpteenth time this season - was forced to become a temporary right-back, leaving a gaping penalty area for Speed to simply slot home.
Cue panic from everyone inside Anfield, and cue an even stranger substitution from the bullet-proof one. I remember a time when Houllier used subs to great effect, but replacing an albeit tiring Steven Gerrard with Bruno Cheyrou with 5 minutes to go, has to rank alongside the substitution of Hamann in Leverkusen. I know it's early days, but from what I've seen of Cheyrou, I'm not at all impressed and Phil Thompson certainly wasn't impressed with the way he nonchalantly trotted back after giving away possession, which would lead to the corner-kick and Newcastle's equaliser. And get rid of those stupid white boots too, only world class players can pull that off.
Just as you think you can totally dismiss Shearer as past it, he pops up with a wonderfully placed header to amazingly level the game at 2-2. What a heartbreaker. One has to ask about the marking - usually so tight - which saw Sami picking up two players and screaming for assistance, which unfortunately never arrived.
In my Southampton report I had remarked on how many defensive headers Stevie G was winning from set pieces, but surely that's clutching at straws, isn't it?
So without question, this was two points lost tonight, which can be largely credited to Gerard Houllier continuing to pick Abel Xavier, because it is impossible to fault ANY of the other 10 starters tonight, who all performed magnificently.
The "we'll have to trust GH brigade" can surely have absolutely no argument whatsoever to defend him this time. Jamie Carragher is fit, he was fit for Blackburn last week and I'm certain that if he and not Xavier had started the last two games, we would have been top of the table with a maximum 12 points.
On a final note, following years of agony and last minute winners at Anfield, and although it was hardly deserving this time around, I think Newcastle were maybe owed this one. This time there were no floods of tears from the travelling Geordies, just a salute to the latest and greatest Geordie messiah. "Shearer, Shearer" may have been the sound that the shellshocked Anfield faithful left the ground to tonight, but remember: "There's only one Michael Owen" and the rest of the Premiership is going to find that out with aplomb, very soon.
Team: Jerzy Dudek; Abel Xavier, Sami Hyypia, Stephane Henchoz, Djimi Traore; Danny Murphy, Steven Gerrard (Bruno Cheyrou), Didi Hamann, Emile Heskey; Vladimir Smicer (El Hadji Diouf), Michael Owen:
