Well it was a cast-iron free kick right at the edge of the box. Newcastle parked at least two buses all afternoon, even when they were losing, no doubt hoping for a chance to counter that they repeatedly showed they were too weak to execute. They managed to force Liverpool to play across the park for much of the time, making for a tedious watch as you say, but it speaks volumes for Liverpool's firepower that they broke through a number of times and got two goals. In the past they've often been frustrated by that tactic, most famously by Mourinho in his Chelsea days, but no team will be able to rely on that approach with Liverpool in future. A couple of long balls up to Salah is enough to get any defence panicking and going out of shape, and we have some damn good long passers. You're being a bit of an ould curmudgeon about the second goal, which was a world-class team goal. Great to see Hendo back on form, and Virgil is a commanding presence who has settled the defence no end.

It's a complete arse thst family matters are going to prevent me from watching the match next Saturday. I blame the Beast From The East for forcing us to put back our plans by a week. Grr.