ON International Workers’ Day it was perhaps inevitable a revitalised Liverpool would raise the red flag. While Newcastle United, in their Persil away strip, did not quite wave the white one in response, they seemed resigned to defeat as soon as they had helped their hosts into a 2-0 lead.

If the Magpies had been lucky to catch a Liverpool team on its knees in Alan Pardew’s first game in charge, it was a very different one in his most recent. The rumble of “Dalglish” before kick-off confirmed.

Not only has King Kenny returned to his throne in the Anfield dugout, but Newcastle had lost their talisman Andy Carroll to him. A thigh strain may have kept the £35m man peripheral to the game, but he was never far from the mind, even as strike partner Luis Súarez set about justifying his own hefty January price tag.

Carroll’s presence on the bench gave the travelling fans plenty to get animated about, blotting out the misery in front of them with a whole songbook to let him know what they thought of his decision to switch sides. But those still employed by the Magpies gave them very little to sing about.

They started sloppily, and although Liverpool never looked anything less than comfortable from then on, for a 15-minute spell at the end of the first half an equaliser seemed possible. The golden chance came at the very start of the second period, and they did not get another.

The early kick-off time did not seem to agree with Newcastle, judging by the number of careless mistakes in the opening quarter of an hour. Danny Simpson and Cheik Tioté both put easy short passes out of the reach of Argentinian team-mates, and clearances tended to find nearby red shirts rather than the touchlines.

Goalkeeper Tim Krul also started less than convincingly, trying to shepherd a ball over the touchline and only just managing as Súarez bore down on him.

Simpson made a poor clearing header under pressure from one of his own colleagues, but Raul Meireles scuffed wide. Newcastle would not be so fortunate the next time they failed to deal properly with a cross.

When John Flanagan swung the ball in from the right, Mike Williamson’s header picked out Maxi Rodriguez. The Argentinian’s volley struck Simpson and wrong-footed Krul on its way into the net.