Player ratings: Newcastle United vs Liverpool

Goals from Kevin Nolan, Joey Barton and Andrew Carroll gave Newcastle manager Alan Pardew a morale boosting 3-1 victory over Liverpool in his first game in charge. Dirk Kuyt scored a consolation for Reds.

Liverpool

Pepe Reina: 5: Had a decent game ended up conceding three goals. Should have dealt with Carroll’s strike better.

Glen Johnson: 6: Made some good runs on the flank. Picked up an unnecessary card though.

Sotirios Kyrgiakos: 6: Almost scored an equaliser. Dealt with overhead balls well. Won many crosses against Ranger.

Martin Skrtel: 5: Was better in the second half after a lacklustre first. Did not close down opposition players well enough.

Paul Konchesky: 5: Another forgettable performance. One cross from the left almost resulted in a goal but Torres headed wide.

Dirk Kuyt: 7: Well taken goal. Typical hardworking performance. Combined well with teammates.

Lucas Lieva: 6: Noticeable improvement from his performances last season. But still a long way off from filling Xabi Alonso’s shoes.

Raul Meireles: 7: Assured display going forward as well as falling back to defend. Had an effort cleared off the line. Played some good passes in the box.

Maxi Rodriguez: 5: Another pathetic display. Wasted at least a couple of decent chances. Went down looking for a penalty when he should have tried to stay on his feet and score.

David Ngog: 6: Went off after taking a knock on the head. Was hardworking till then. But did not have much supply to work on.

Fernando Torres: 5: Spurned several opportunities. The Spaniard seems hopelessly out of form at the moment.

Substitutions

Ryan Babel: 4: Had 20 minutes to make an impact. But didn’t do anything with the passes that came his way.

Milan Jovanovic: Did not feature enough to be rated.

Newcastle United

Tim Krul: 6: Did not have much to do. Should have saved Kuyt’s strike.

Danny Simpson: 6: Became steady as the game progressed. Defended astutely.

Steven Taylor: 5: Couple of mistakes could have cost his team dear but his teammates saved him the blushes.

Sol Campbell: 6: Another assured performance from the veteran. Did not give Torres any room to operate.

Jose Enrique: 6: Went forward well. Defended well from the flank.

Joey Barton: 8: Took the freekick that led to Nolan’s opener. Got into an ugly tiff with Liverpool players but kept his cool to score almost immediately.

Cheikh Tiote: 6: Defended deep. Intercepted and broke play when necessary. Distributed the ball well.

Kevin Nolan: 7: Good all around display. Scored an opportunistic opener.

Jonas Gutierrez: 6: Constant menace. Made life difficult for the Reds defence.

Shola Ameobi: 6: Went off injured but did not look too promising until then either.

Andrew Carroll: 7: Kept the Liverpool defenders busy through out. Thoroughly deserved his goal. Fantastic finish from 25 yards.

Substitutions

Nile Ranger: 6: Kept going for the aerial balls. Kyrgiakos and Skrtel dealt with him but he made sure Carroll was left free on many occasions.

Alan Smith, Wayne Routledge: Did not feature enough to be rated.