Along the way Pardew – whose commendably spirited team played the entire second half with 10 men – exhibited fabulous defiance for someone widely portrayed as a dead man walking apparently forever on the brink of being sacked by Mike Ashley. If Newcastle's owner is hoping for a meek surrender he will surely be disappointed.
Home fans had organised a Saturday morning march through the city, protesting about Ashley's stewardship of the club. The sports retail magnate is unlikely to have been perturbed; the bottom line was that the stadium had filled to near 52,000 capacity by kick-off. If supporters really want to get their message through to Ashley the only way would be to vote with their feet and boycott games.
So far there is no sign of that happening – although it surely would were Pardew to be replaced with Joe Kinnear – and those who turned up here are unlikely to have regretted their decision.
Configured in a slick 4-3-3 format which permitted plenty of scope for sharp movement, smart short passes and frequent positional inter-changing, Newcastle were almost unrecognisable from the rather less three dimensional outfit which topped last season's Premier League long ball table. They were confronted by the attractive 3-4-1-2 system with which Rodgers has largely brought the best out of Liverpool just lately but, after resisting some sustained early pressure, Pardew's players took the lead.
The goal was struck by Yohan Cabaye's right boot. Cabaye may not have been quite forgiven by Pardew for going on strike earlier this season in a forlorn attempt to wangle himself a move to Arsenal but he moved a fraction closer to atonement courtesy of a surging run from the halfway line followed by a wonderfully swerving 35 -yard shot, which curled around Mamadou Sakho before narrowly eluding the initially unsighted Simon Mignolet.
Suddenly the absence of Lucas Leiva – whose wife gave birth on Friday night – and the injured José Enrique looked to be weighing heavily on Liverpool, for whom Aly Cissokho's positioning frequently seemed suspect in the left wing-back role.
Rodger's side nearly fell further behind when Mignolet just managed to parry Moussa Sissoko's stinging shot but when Cheik Tioté – rightly preferred to Cabaye as Newcastle captain in place of the injured Fabricio Coloccini – conceded possession in slapdash fashion the power balance began shifting.
The immediate aftermath of Tioté's error saw Tim Krul do well to smother Daniel Sturridge's shot but Liverpool had renewed hope and when Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa stupidly placed a hand on Luis Suárez's shoulder ahead of the Uruguayan's collapse in the area he was sent off for denying a goalscoring opportunity and the Merseysiders awarded a penalty. Making no mistake with a sidefoot from the spot, Steven Gerrard duly recorded his 100th Premier League goal.
Newcastle's players felt Suárez – cleverly put through by Sturridge – had rather made a meal of things but it is hard to imagine any striker declining Yanga-Mbiwa's most generous invitation to win a penalty. They also protested to the referee that the Liverpool forward had been offside but, in reality, it appeared Tioté had played him onside.
Semantics aside, Yanga-Mbiwa's impending suspension and the complaints currently sidelining Coloccini and Steven Taylor leave Pardew with a central defensive dilemma ahead of next Sunday's all important trip to Sunderland.
Newcastle's manager – whose side had deserved to take the lead after being on top for a protracted spell – has been all out of luck in recent months. This trend seemed to be continuing as Gerrard, already booked for a tug on Cabaye, escaped a second yellow card for another foul on Loïc Rémy. Then it took a splendid recovery tackle from Martin Skrtel to deny Rémy a goal.
Pardew looked glum but, happily his ten man team, failed to share such pessimism. When Cabaye floated in a free-kick and Liverpool's defensive plans fell to pieces substitute defender Paul Dummett was on hand to volley a loose ball beyond Mignolet.
Rodgers responded to falling behind by switching to a back four, although this change was partly forced by an injury to Sakho, who was replaced by Luis Alberto.
Within minutes they were level, Sturridge connecting with Suárez's whipped in delivery before heading into an unguarded net after an adroit move initiated by Victor Moses had drawn Krul off his line.
Liverpool spurned subsequent chances to secure three points but that would have been overly harsh on Newcastle and Pardew. As it was a point was enough to take Rodgers's players, at least temporarily top, a point ahead of Arsenal who were kicking off at 3pm.
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