Newcastle 1-0 Liverpool: NUFC Player & Tactics Ratings

9. Mehdi Abeid - 9 - MAN OF THE MATCH

Strong, disciplined and cultured, Abeid's last two performances have shown exactly why he was so highly thought of in Greece last year, and the fact that he utterly shut Coutinho out of the game is testament to how well his holding role/man marking double-duty worked. Yes, he lost the ball noticeably on one occasion, but his recovery looks great and he's able to pick a smarter pass than you might associate with an enforcing anchor. Hopefully this is the star of something beautiful.

8. Jack Colback - 7

Solid but unspectacular, Colback's pressing and willingness to run and look for space opening are his strongest assets. Without possession though, he was mostly a hard-working passenger, told to harry, press and limit Liverpool's time on the ball. And it worked.

7. Moussa Sissoko - 8

Another strong performance from the midfield man of the moment, his ability to transition from defence to attack is hugely influential on Newcastle's new dynamic breaking, and he was the main source of aerial joy when Krul went long with his dead balls. He's a handful to say the least going forward, and while he might have been lucky to stay on the pitch, he proved his worth both in the centre and on the right when Remy Cabella came on.

6. Gabriel Obertan - 7

A horribly unfortunate day for the resurgent frenchman - though he wasn't on the pitch for too much more than 20 minutes, his pacy runs out of defence were the key part of Newcastle's plan for the first part of the first half, and it's worrying to see such a bad looking injury in such a difficult area. Hamstrings heal, but thighs are a different matter entirely, and can take a significantly longer period to get back to full condition.