Nick Barmby and Andy Griffin locked in combat (BenRadford/Allsport)

Certainly, if they did not have a hang-up before facing Bobby Robson's injury-ravaged side, they must surely have one now after almost totally dominating the game.

Moral victories, however, do not win games or titles and in football, possession is not always nine-tenths of the law.

This fifth away defeat in the Premiership will further undermine manager Gerard Houllier's hopes of ending the season with a place in the Champions League, even if Newcastle manager Robson described Liverpool as the best side to visit the ground all season.

A mightily relieved Robson declared: 'You could say we were lucky. Shay Given played very well and Liverpool had the territorial advantage. But we lost against Sunderland at home when we should not have and maybe we deserved a break.

'Nevertheless, they were the best team to come to St James' Park this year and they won't finish too many points away from Arsenal.'

Such admiration will be of little solace to Houllier. Last week his players lost at Tottenham after taking the lead. Yesterday, they gave their opponents the lead when Nolberto Solano profited from Jamie Carragher's lack of concentration, snatching the ball from him to hammer past Sander Westerveld in the fourth minute.

For more than the next hour, Newcastle hung on, rode their luck, cleared two attempts off their line and then, to the total consternation of a Liverpool side who always seem to play with the back door open, went further ahead thanks to a piece of impudence from Kieron Dyer.

It is to Liverpool's great credit that they did not collapse in a heap of collective frustration.

They transformed their disillusion into a final charge for the point that was the very least they deserved and Emile Heskey bravely prodded the ball over Given with 12 minutes remaining.

But the damage was already done and Newcastle, marshalled superbly by Warren Barton, utilised as an emergency centre back rather than on the flank because of his club's casualty rate, knew they had just enough gas in the tank to make it across the line.

Liverpool's problem is that while they often look highly impressive in offensive mode, defensive errors are now becoming a bad habit.

While Dyer should be applauded for the way he latched on to Alan Shearer's flicked header just inside the Liverpool half, squeezed himself past Stephane Henchoz and clipped the ball past Westerveld as the goalkeeper advanced, he was still afforded far too much room in which to conjure his 70th-minute goal.

Houllier insisted: 'It's difficult to get the balance right at the moment between defending and attacking. We've scored more goals this season than last and probably played better football.

'But if you don't defend well you ruin everything you do going forward. Everybody in the team has to be better at closing down, challenging for the second ball and things like that.

'We conceded a silly goal and after that we were having to chase the game. I've just bumped into Alan Shearer and he said: "Well done and all the best", but we have still lost.'

The Anfield boss added that Thursday's UEFA Cup game in Greece had not helped his players.

'Sometimes there's a risk when you travel and come back to the Premier League that you have a bit of a slow start, which unfortunately was the case for that first sloppy goal,' he said.

'But I thought for most of the game, we created more chances and probably produced more attacking football. But the ball was not going our way.'

Houllier dispensed his views in a calm manner but inside he must have been seething. Having had a side with the best defensive record in the Premiership last season, he has subsequently brought in Markus Babbel and Christian Ziege, who is currently injured. His rearguard is now shaky where it was solid, indecisive when before it was confident and assured.

Fortune, away from home at least, is not on Liverpool's side. Nick Barmby wriggled his way into the box to fire the ball through Given's legs but Andrew Griffin popped up from nowhere to force the ball off the line.

Barton, making his one mis-take of the day, over-hit a pass back to his goalkeeper. Given resembled a sprinter in his desperation to hack the ball away.

Hyppia, rising powerfully to meet a corner from Barmby 15 yards out, saw his header bounce off the junction of bar and post.

Vladimir Smicer, having just replaced Danny Murphy, completely missed his kick 14 yards out after Barmby rolled the ball perfectly into his path.

Yet, Newcastle, having lost in their previous game at St James' to their worst enemies Sunderland after Shearer missed a penalty, showed great resolve.

Many teams would have lost their nerve in the face of the kind of domination imposed on them. At times they must have believed they would never touch the ball again as Steven Gerrard pushed and prodded, Heskey and Robbie Fowler made repeated runs and Barmby darted here, there and everywhere in search of an opening.

But with only one recognised central defender in Aaron Hughes available - and last year he was rated by Robson as his seventh choice - they held together and rarely panicked.

It was all enough to drive Houllier and his players mad but Robson, who at the age of 67 has seen logic defied on a football pitch more than most, wryly observed: 'You can't work football out. The moment I do, I'm going to retire.'

Newcastle United (4-4-1-1): Given; Griffin, Hughes, Barton, Domi; Solano, Lee, Speed, Bassedas (Acuna, 79min); Dyer; Shearer. Booked: Griffin, Speed, Barton.

Liverpool (4-4-2): Westerveld; Babbel, Henchoz, Hyypia, Carragher; Murphy (Smicer, 57), Hamann, Gerrard (McAllister, 73), Barmby; Heskey, Fowler. Booked: Babbel, Henchoz.

Referee: Steve Bennett