Hot on the heels of grounding high-flying West Ham United with a deserved 3-2 victory thanks to a last-gasp winner from loanee Joe Willock, The Magpies head to Anfield in Liverpool, home of The Merseyside Reds, whose owners attempted to steal football from the people who invented it & lovingly supported it for over a century in last week's heist to join an European Super League that evaporated like The Reds' title defence.
Unsurprisingly, Allan Saint-Maximum was the chief architect of victory taking up where he left off against Burnley with brilliant buccaneering dribbles, this time from a False 9 position, and was Newcastle's most advanced attack taking the game to West Ham, who simply could not cope with his pace, power and unpredictability:
Joelinton had another excellent game and like Sheffield United's John Egan last season, his fast forward running and dribbling saw Hammer Chris Dawson sent off for two yellow cards in the same move in which Saint-Maximum created & forced the first goal:
The big Brazilian gobbled up another goal soon after, expertly marking and psyching out goalkeeper Fabianski at a corner to make it 2 goals in 2 games at St James' Park before being the first Newcastle player to speak out about the ill-fated, short-lived farce that was The European Super League.
The Hammers did fight back admirably despite having ten men and managed to bring it back to 2-2 but Newcastle demonstrated they could score at will-ock soon after when Matt Ritchie crossed for Joe Willock to head home his third goal at St James' Park.
A huge week for football off the pitch brought fans of all clubs together against the artificially-enhanced, so-called 'Big Six' clubs Man United, Man City, Liverpool, Chelsea, Spurs and Arsenal who have enjoyed Premier League referee favouritism for years and every advantage off the pitch it seems as well:
Extraordinary revelations like the above confirm what Newcastle fans and supporters of 'The Other 14' have known for years - that a cartel of clubs has been calling the shots in The Premier League behind the scenes which naturally spills onto the pitch and in the refereeing decisions of England's top flight.
Controversial - make that completely wrong - decisions favouring Liverpool have spoilt recent games between The Reds & Magpies and this disgraceful dive led to a late free-kick that unfairly won a competitive game in 2019, given by referee Andre Marriner, who gave every 50-50 decision to Liverpool & more and is the official who just happens to be the man in the middle at Anfield on Saturday and is a known 'Big Six' referee, whose days as a top-flight official should be numbered as the cartel's influence collapses.
Conveniently, The Premier League bans footage of their games so injustices like this cannot be shared on social media easily and their corruption cannot be exposed readily but the level of cheating and collusion can be seen via the video this link:
The player in question Fabinho could be not be retrospectively banned as the dive took place outside the area but Mo Salah blatantly dived and won a penalty with the score at 1-0 in an until-then competitive encounter in the reverse fixture at Anfield in 2018/9 and Newcastle were eventually routed 4-0 - and Salah didn't receive a ban for this either:
This clear, blatant undeniable unfairness even with retrospective bans and VAR has long stuck in the throats of football supporters for years and now is the time to change it.
Liverpool's owners are being roundly slated for their part in The ESL heist although Jurgen Klopp, James Milner, Jordan Henderson & Liverpool players must be given their due for speaking out against and opposing the money-grabbing plans that would have irrevocably changed the face of English and European football forever.
After dominating The Premier League and winning their first top flight title in 30 years last season, Liverpool find themselves 7th with 53 points from 32 games this season after a huge drop in their quality of their performances and lack of consistency partly resulting from injuries to key men like Virgil Van-Dyk, Joel Matip and Jordan Henderson but don't forget they were beaten 7-3 by Aston Villa before their injury woes.
They are now 24 points behind League leaders Man City and are fighting for a place in the Top 4 and reentry to The Champions League after being knocked out by Real Madrid and suffering the worst run of results at Anfield virtually in the club's history with everyone from Burnley to Fulham, Everton and Brighton picking up three points there.
So theoretically Newcastle have as good a chance as ever of a Premier League victory at Anfield since 1994 under Kevin Keegan when Andy Cole & Rob Lee scored the goals:
although Liverpool have got their act together somewhat in the last handful of Premier League games with good wins at Wolves and Arsenal away plus Aston Villa at home while Leeds pegged them back 1-1 on Monday Night Football to the delight of the football world bang in the middle of The European Super League fiasco:
In his press conference after another trying week in a hard season, Jurgen Klopp said he wasn't surprised that his players weren't happy about and spoke against the ESL:
"I'm not surprised, they are adults, top characters, top blokes, it was a really good thing to do, not for the first time and not for the last time."
Speaking of the "six finals" he and his players have left to qualify for The Champions League, Klopp said:
"Newcastle are fighting to stay in the League..but we have our own targets, we have to fight, we have to offer a proper, proper fight, we have to play football, we have to defend, we have to score goals, for 95 minutes tomorrow..
"They already had a good spell at the start of the season but then they had problems with injuries, Covid and everything came together
Now they have kind of a settled line-up..and Steve likes to keep the structure when its successful
"Mr Saint-Maximin is a proper one and he was injured and it was a massive blow for Newcastle and Joelinton, they play now really well together, without Wilson even on the pitch..and they've found their line-up, they're way to play."
While in his presser, Steve Bruce made with a strident defence of the existing English football structure and The Premier League in the wake of the Super League fiasco:
"As soon as it (the ESL) was announced, it was gone and the Big 6 took a slapping and a half - the outcry was quite incredible from right across football, no matter who you supported, you were against it and rightly say, the beauty of this country and what we have is the fierce competition and to take that competition away was not right...
"Well Done to the supporters, they've been heard & they've won so fair play."
"I had the break at a a small club and I know what it means to the supporters of these clubs...I hope that they all survive...I'm all for the pyramid of this country even giving them a bit more down below, its part and parcel of what we are in this country and we've had it for over a hundred years and it means so much, they're vital."
Yet he also urged caution about his own side's Premier League survival saying:
"35 points isn't going to be enough. We're still not OK yet. We need at least another win...We got 44 points last season so we're trying to beat last year's total.
Liverpool are Liverpool and there's been signs recently that they're the Liverpool of old."
"If our big players are right and our squad is fit, we're OK and we've lost only 1 in 7 now which coincides with our big players getting fit and the squad being better than what it has been and I was always quietly confident we'll get out of trouble."
Confirming that top goalscorer Callum Wilson and trickster-in-chief Allan Saint-Maximum are fit, he ruled out Karl Darlow and Ryan Fraser with operations and said it was too close for Fabian Schar to play although he has resumed training.
Newcastle are full of confidence after picking up seven points from nine and are determined to end the season on a high after starting the campaign very well but having their season "dismantled" by Corona Virus and injuries in Bruce's words and if Saint-Maximum thrives on his Anfield debut after missing last year's match with injury, The Magpies can win at the famous ground minus in what would be a moral victory.
Prediction - Newcastle United 2 Liverpool 1
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