Liverpool produced their most impressive performance for several months in taking their place in the fifth round, Gérard Houllier's promise of getting back to 'basics' paying dividends. However, another of the manager's pre-match observations proved more relevant, namely that any team who field Dietmar Hamann, Steven Gerrard, Michael Owen and Harry Kewell in the starting line-up - as Liverpool did for only the second time - cannot be as bad as their displays in the first half of the season have implied. The romanticism of the FA Cup is all well and good, let the Scarboroughs and Northampton Towns have their day, but there is nothing to compare to two Premiership heavyweights - even wannabes - squaring up in an early round. The 'big three' at the top of English football are already all but guaranteed Champions League football next season, the campaign a success of sorts because of it. For Liverpool and Newcastle, however, success in the FA Cup would give their support something to cheer about this season and, therefore, ease the mounting uncertainty surrounding the futures of Houllier and Sir Bobby Robson.
Ian Whittell, The Observer
Bruno a knockout, no mistake
The banner high up in the Centenary Stand was unequivocal: "Sort it out, Houllier. Not good enough for LFC. No more expensive mistakes. We want the title." Not this season, but perhaps another FA Cup, if accompanied by a Champions' League place, will keep the dissidents at bay. Yesterday evening the much-criticised Bruno Cheyrou, generally regarded as one of those costly mistakes, did his bit by producing the match of his brief Liverpool career and scoring the two goals that took them into the last 16 of the competition. It was Robson offering the congratulations at the finish, painfully aware that as his opposite number recently remarked: "We win together but as a manager, you lose alone." Whichever of two decent men lost this tie was always going to be under greater pressure as the season progressed towards the possible climax of a play-off for a Champions' League place when their teams meet here again on the campaign's final weekend. Last May Liverpool lost in identical circumstances to Chelsea and have never quite recovered, so this was a result to boost morale in the dressing-room if not the Centenary Stand.
Steve Tongue, Independent on Sunday
Newcastle dream ended by Cheyrou
Newcastle's manager Sir Bobby Robson and his captain Alan Shearer both take the club's long, painful wait for silverware as a personal wound. And, at least until this tie came out of the hat, both dreamed that this might finally be the year that they could heal it by rewarding the Geordie faithful with a trophy. Instead, another barren year can be chalked up after two goals by Bruno Cheyrou, suddenly and, to many, surprisingly, developing as a Liverpool hero, closed their last route to success this season. Robson said beforehand that he had a dream of playing in the final at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium, but Anfield has never been anything but a nightmare for him, having now logged his 30th game here as player and manager without ever tasting victory. Liverpool know a little how Robson and Shearer feel after their agonising wait to win the title again. But an FA Cup run would do no harm to manager Gerard Houllier's hopes of eluding the sack. Although Liverpool are still infuriatingly inconsistent, the flowering of Cheyrou is not the only thing convincing Houllier that, however slowly, his team is taking shape as one that can win silverware again.
Roy Collins, Sunday Telegraph
Sweet victory for Houllier
In the months to come, perhaps yesterday will be regarded as the evening Liverpool evolved from being an ill- fitting combination of under-achieving chancers to a committed passionate unit, capable of outfighting and outfoxing the most doughty of opponents. Two Bruno Cheyrou goals eased them into tomorrow’s FA Cup fifth-round draw. The result is all in cup football, of course, but the performance, brimming with both passion and guile, may have the greater long-term bearing. Last season, when Newcastle fell at the first FA Cup hurdle in Wolverhampton, Alan Shearer declared himself as disappointed as he had ever been over a football match. Last week he was singing from the same self-written hymn sheet, claiming a Cup winner’s medal for Newcastle would mean more to him than the championship he won at Blackburn, and that he would also prefer it to a place in the Champions League next season. Shearer was the old school voice of footballing glory, a heartwarming throwback to the days when the Cup meant as much as the League. Shearer was not alone, albeit for different reasons. Liverpool manager Gerard Houllier admitted this game was “monumental” for his team. No wonder. After his awful week — a supine defeat at Tottenham and a careless draw at Molineux — he needed a fillip as morale continues to dip.
John Aizlewood, Sunday Times