Newcastle 2-1 Birmingham

Newcastle followed up their creditable performance against Arsenal with a heartening 2-1 against Birmingham City to ease their Premier League woes, and give manager Sam Allardyce some much needed breathing space.

They made it hard for themselves with a gift opener to Cameraon Jerome after only nine minutes. They got back in it after thirty six minutes Martins slotting home a penalty given from Sadlers challenge on him. Newcastles winner came in the last minute, with Senegal defender Beye heading home from Emres corner to flatten Birmingham with a sucker punch.

Newcastle dominated for large parts of the first half and could well have had more than Martins equaliser. After the break Newcastle fell flat, maybe because of their midweek exertions, and maybe because they were up against a determined and organised Birmingham.

It may not have been too pretty but three points following the Arsenal game will do wonders for Newcastle's confidence and give Sam Allardyce much need breathing space as he seeks to put his stamp on the team.

Reading 3-1 Liverpool: Rafa Strikes Again

Liverpool fans (me included!) will be groaning yet again after this completely self inflicted defeat. The dreaded 'r' word of rotation will be cropping up yet again and I'm sure the Liverpool fans collective groan at the team selection could be heard up and down the country as Rafa Benitez couldn't resist reverting back to his tinkerman approach.

Liverpool started the game reasonably well showing the confidence of their recent winning run but didn't really threaten Reading. Reading then got a controversial penalty when Jamie Carragher was adjudged to have fouled Gunnarsson inside the box. It was arguably the first of three or four big decisions the referee got wrong. Shortly after Liverpool equalised through Gerrard after Torres superbly took down Reina's clearance to play him in.

Liverpool were now looking reasonably comfortable and early in the second half looked set to go on and win the game. However they were still not really creating clear chances and lacked penetration and width from midfield. They were made to pay for not converting their pressure to a goal when Doyle got a faint touch to Shorey's free kick to give Reading the lead. Torres was denied what looked a clear penalty and then missed a half chance with a diving header. Shortly after Liverpool were given a mountain to climb when Harper outpaced Riise and took the ball round Reina to put Reading 3-1 ahead. Gerrard hit the bar with a superb strike but Benitez then added to his collection of strange selection decisions by taking off his skipper Gerrard with 20 minutes to go. Kewell and Crouch (twice) both went close but Liverpool ultimately couldn't get back into the game.

All in all you were left with the feeling that if Rafa Benitez had selected a slightly more balanced, stronger team then Liverpool would have won. To start with Crouch up front and a midfield that had no width or pace to put anything on his head was baffling to say the least.

Premiership Transfer Rumours

We've done a scan of the football gossip pages and the latest transfer rumours to do the rounds are:

Various sources are reporting Jose Mourinho is holding 'secret' talks with the Football Association to replace Steve McLaren.

Another transfer rumour concerns poor Michael Owen's injury prone fall from grace continues - he's being linked with Manchester City who are set to make an £8m move for Newcastle's England striker in January. (various)


Chelsea will off-load the biggest show pony in the Premier League by allowing striker Andriy Shevchenko to on loan apparently to follow Beckham to the MLS in the States. How appropriate. That one from the Mirror. Still on Chelsea the Sun is reporting Didier Drogba want his knee op straight away while Chelsea want him to delay it.

The Star has two transfer rumours. One that the newest Premier League manager, Alex McLeish wants to sign Sheffield United's Gary Naysmith in January. The other is that Chelsea reckon they will snatch Bolton's Nicolas Anelka for a cool 15 mill in the transfer window.

Blackburn pair Benni McCarthy and Robbie Savage have held talks with Mark Hughes with both increasingly frustrated picking splinters out their rear end of a Saturday afternoon. (Mail)
Brentford boss Terry Butcher has been given one match to save his job. (Sun)

Down into the Championship transfer rumours are circulating in the Mail that QPR have agreed a £2m deal for Sunderland's Daryl Murphy (though I have seen Roy Keane deny this elsewhere) and also a £150,000 move for Watford's Gavin Mahon. (Mail). Elsewhere Wolves boss Mick McCarthy is ready to launch a £1.5m bid for Derby striker Steve Howard. (Sun)

Up in sunny Scotland the rumours are that Celtic have apparently agreed to sell striker Derek Riordan in January and spark a chase for his services. (The Record) The Scottish Sun is reporting further rumours that Celtic manager Gordon Strachan will be given enough money for four new players in the January transfer window which should put a smile on his face.