Liverpool marked their first game since Luis Suarez’s suspension with a resounding 6-0 win against Newcastle on Saturday.

Daniel Agger gave the Reds a third-minute lead after heading home Jose Enrique’s looping cross before former Sunderland midfielder Jordan Henderson tapped home for a second on the quarter-of-an-hour mark.

The instrumental Daniel Sturridge then struck twice after the break, while Fabio Borini and Henderson completed the scoring as the visitors ended a streak of three successive draws, while also extending Newcastle’s miserable run to just one win in eight Premier League games.

The Magpies went into proceedings without first-choice stopper Tim Krul, club captain Fabricio Coloccini and midfielder Sylvain Marveaux but manager Alan Pardew was able to name Hatem Ben Arfa – a recent injury returnee – on the bench.

The visitors, meanwhile, made just one change from their 0-0 draw at Reading as Sturridge came in for the suspended Suarez.

But that solitary changed looked to be all Brendan Rodgers’s side needed as Liverpool commanded the early stages and were rewarded for their dominance just three minutes in.

Enrique sent a looping cross into the danger area, where Agger stood unmarked and in yards of space. The Denmark defender got his head to the ball and calmly slotted past a hapless Rob Elliot.

That was the Reds’ 75th Premier League goal against Newcastle – the most that they have scored against any other side in the top division. The 76th would shortly follow.

A long ball from Pepe Reina was touched to Phillipe Coutinho by Sturridge, who then combined with the 23-year-old to perfection as some sublime build-up play allowed Henderson to break free in the penalty area and tap the ball into an empty net.

A one-sided affair was signalling all kinds of worry for the home side and their task was not made any easier when James Perch wasted their biggest chance of the half minutes before the break. The 27-year-old met a pinpoint cross inside the box but sent his header disastrously wide of Reina’s goal.

Pardew’s response was to send Ben Arfa and Yoan Gouffran out for the second half and their presence immediately gave the hosts a notable injection of energy.

But Elliott was soon picking the ball out of his net yet again as Coutinho starred once more with a sensational through-ball to Sturridge, who gratefully tucked his finish home.

And on the hour mark, matters got even worse for the home side as Henderson won the ball of Cheikh Tiote and squared to Sturridge, who was in the right place at the right time once again for his second of the game.

Substitute Borini then rubbed salt into Newcastle’s wounds as he tucked away Stewart Downing’s cross with a fine finish, before Mathieu Debuchy was sent off shortly afterwards for a second bookable offence.

Minutes later, Henderson swooped in with his second to make it six, completing a very bleak result indeed for Pardew and his men.

The former Newcastle defender has backed his Liverpool team-mate for an immediate return to form, believing that he has the ability to regain his place in Brendan Rodgers’ side

Jose Enrique has given his backing to fellow Liverpool defender Martin Skrtel, who has struggled to assert himself this season under manager Brendan Rod

The 28-year-old has recently been linked with a move away from Anfield, having lost his place in the team’s starting line-up to Jamie Carragher after putting in a disappointing performance during the club’s FA Cup fourth-round exit to League One side Oldham.

With Carragher set to retire next month, however, Enrique believes that the door is open for Skrtel to rediscover his form and win back his starting berth.

The Spaniard told the Daily Mail: “I think we have one of the best centre-backs in the league in Martin Skrtel.

“Like every player he has not had a good season this year, but last season he was player of the season for us.

“For me, when he comes on he will be top-class again for sure.”

Enrique’s own career on Merseyside had looked threatened earlier in the season, as team-mates Glen Johnson and Stewart Downing were preferred to him at left-back.

In February, the 27 year-old questioned his manager’s conduct, arguing that Rodgers’ public criticism of him and other team-mates was not the ‘right way’ to motivate them.

In recent games, though, Enrique has – by his own admission – shown an improved level of performance. He added: “This [Rodgers’ criticism], to be honest, woke me up and now I am playing well.

“From the start I tried as hard as I could and sometimes it is good for someone to tell you the bad things you don’t want to hear.”

The former player and manager at Anfield has blasted the Football Association for their treatment of the Reds’ Uruguayan striker, believing he did not receive a fair hearing

Kenny Dalglish has blasted the FA for their treatment of Liverpool striker Luis Suarez, who the Merseyside legend believes has not been given a fair hearing.

Although Dalglish admits that the striker was “wrong” for his “uncacceptable” act, the former Liverpool manager is calling for the FA to reform its disciplinary hearing process.

He wrote in The Daily Mirror: “Let’s start with the fact that the FA said before they had appointed the so-called ‘independent’ regulatory commission that Suarez deserved more than the normal three-game ban.

“Well, by saying that, they prejudiced the findings of the commission before it has even begun. They appointed the people to sit on it and they have told them they are there to give him more than three games.

“So those three people know they have to give the player more than three games just to justify their existence.

“How ‘independent’ does that make the three-man commission? I wish the FA would just stop playing with words. Because this panel wasn’t truly independent and to say it was is blatantly misleading.

“The FA chooses who sits on it to begin with. Does that make it ‘independent’? And who sits on it? An ex-player, an FA council member and a lawyer already known to the FA.

“So there’s an FA council member on an ‘independent’ FA commission. That’s convenient. And there’s an ex-player, who would probably like to do more work for the FA. That’s convenient, too.

“Are they paid, by the way? Are they paid by the FA? Do they do it for free? I don’t know the answer to those questions but I’d like to know.

“The point is that the structure of an FA disciplinary procedure like this is inherently unfair. They hide behind excuses about the referee saw it or didn’t see it, punished it or didn’t punish it.

“The FA has been in need of widespread reform for a long time. The need is getting more and more pressing.

“These regulatory commissions have to be independent in more than just name.”