Liverpool 3, Newcastle 0: And some have the nerve to say he isn't world class...

Dear Big Sam,

Up your hole and shut your trap. Once again Rafa showed he was the superior manager.

Cheers,
Every Liverpool Supporter (and probably a few Magpie ones as well)

Once again Steven Gerrard proved his class in a thoroughly dominating display where even a three goal margin of victory doesn't properly tell the tale of the match. It could have been much worse, but it seems Fernando Torres refuses to score a simple goal, which is fine by me. As long as he nets the difficult ones I don't care, but it was a bit comical after awhile.

If there's one negative effect Torres has on the side, it's the long ball. Particularly in the beginning of matches, everyone tries to chuck it down the field and have him chase after it. The problem with that is, aside from it occasionally working which makes it worse, it prevents from 'breaking in the ball' so to speak. Passing around the ball just to keep possession builds confidence and wears down the opposition, but when we start with the long ball and fail to produce, it has the opposite effect. It stagnates controlling the match, which should be our side's first objective instead of a quick, cheap goal. Thankfully we tend to realize this about twenty minutes in to most matches, as we did today, but if we started from the onset, we could be even more assertive throughout.

The man of the match was without a doubt Steven Gerrard. Our captain had a world class free kick goal to start things off and then assisted on the other two. His brilliance just cannot be understated. I wouldn't sell him for £100m and there's no player in the world I'd trade him for. That's six goals in seven matches and probably his most inspiring display of the year. Anybody who watched that match today and still says he's not world class is obviously mental.

I'll do grades eventually, but despite the relatively easy three points, not everyone was on top of their game. Kewell, Arbeloa, and of course, Torres, have had better days, but in the end it didn't matter. I just hope no of them let it affect them in the long run. We'll probably read or hear how rubbish Sissoko was, but though he didn't have his best match he did complete 39 of 42 passes and was second on the side with 7 tackles. Lucas Leiva was superb overall and lead the side with 11 tackles.

It's always a good sign when your club doesn't play their best and sleeps its way through a commanding victory as they did today. I can only imagine the scoreline had we be on our game. It was really good for Kuyt to get the goal even if he had to do basically nothing to get it and whatta ya know? Babel comes on and we score, or well, he scored, as expected. We are now three points behind Man U with a game-in-hand and after today, even the most cynical supporter like myself, sort of believes we have a shot at the title. Next match is Wednesday when Porto comes to Anfield for a crucial Champions League tie. Let's pray we continue our winning ways. Cheers.