LIVERPOOL: THE ANTI-NEWCASTLE?

In physics, antiparticles have more or less the same general properties as their ordinary counterparts, but with an opposite electrical charge. In other words, they’re very much the same in most respects, but totally different in one key attribute. As Newcastle look ahead at Friday’s trip to Liverpool, they see a club that’s similar in many ways, but operates completely differently. 

Both clubs play in legendary venues packed with vociferous fans, and are backed by a passionate international following. Both have mixed historical success with recent failure.
(Unfortunately for those of us on the Newcastle side of the ledger, the historical success is smaller and more distant, the recent failure more prominent.)

And while Liverpool, being owned by John Henry, who also owns the Boston Red Sox, has been talked about for its supposed “Moneyball” transfer philosophy, it is Newcastle who embodies the principles laid out in Michael Lewis’s wildly successful book. Namely, teams looking to win with less need to find players undervalued in the market. There’s no place for sentiment, either: if someone offers you more than you think a player is worth, make the deal and don’t look back.

There’s no better place to start than the man who grew up supporting Newcastle and after sporting the club’s iconic number nine shirt, now wears the same in red and white. A physical center forward in the classic British style, Andy Carroll was expected to be England’s next big star. His ₤35 million transfer was celebrated as a show of ambition by Liverpool, and a capitulation by a Newcastle management not serious about winning.

Now, a year later, it’s clear that Newcastle cashed in at the peak of Carroll’s market value, as persistent rumors bringing him back to the club for half-price (or less) will attest. To replace the erstwhile local hero, Alan Pardew managed to snag a striker with twice the talent for free, in the form of Demba Ba.

Both lineups on Friday will be full of players embodying their clubs’ currrent transfer policies. Liverpool’s Kenny Dalglish has bought big-name players from the Premier League, spending the big cash that goes along with it: Carroll, Stewart Downing, Jordan Henderson, Charlie Adam, and another old friend, Jose Enrique. That quintet went for about ₤80 million, a figure many Newcastle supporters would salivate to have at the club’s disposal.

Meanwhile, Pardew’s men currently sit just one point behind Liverpool in the table, despite their penny-pinching approach. Ba, Cheick Tiote, Yohan Cabaye, Hatem Ben Arfa, Jonas Gutierrez, Gabriel Obertan, and Fabricio Coloccini (the one big-money buy in the bunch) cost just a bit less in transfer fees than Carroll alone, if the widely reported figures are to be believed.

While there’s much for Newcastle fans to be frustrated with about Mike Ashley’s stewardship of the club, he has somehow managed to build a successful team on a meager investment. The seemingly bottomless supply of cash that Liverpool sits on has not bought them any more success than Newcastle in 2011. And going into Friday’s game, there’s probably no player on the field that will frighten the opposition more than Demba Ba should scare Liverpool’s defenders. For the first time in years, Newcastle head to Anfield with a genuine chance at a meaningful victory. And that win--the victory of the club over the anti-Newcastle--would definitely be priceless to behold.