Arne Slot hails Liverpool’s ‘mentality to fight’ after late Rio Ngumoha winner

By Damian Spellman, PA

Liverpool boss Arne Slot saluted his team’s fighting mentality after watching them kill off Newcastle’s unlikely fightback with the decisive final punch.

The Reds led Eddie Howe’s 10 men 2-0 after 46 minutes at St James’ Park on Monday evening and looked set to cruise to victory before the Magpies dragged themselves back into the game only to be felled finally by 16-year-old substitute Rio Ngumoha.

Slot later admitted that the champions had been “lucky” to emerge with the points, but asked if that kind of result on that kind of night was what won titles, he replied: “That is the last thing I think about in this moment, if I’m honest.

“Winning away at Newcastle, then you definitely need to have quality, especially in an atmosphere like this – not football quality because that’s not what we showed today, apart from the last goal we scored. That looked a little bit like what I see on a daily basis on the training ground.

“But to have the mentality to fight here in such a hostile stadium, that is definitely something you also need if you want to compete in the end.

“Winning is something else, but at least competing you definitely need to have this mentality – and that’s what we showed.”

Liverpool arrived on Tyneside expecting a hostile welcome on and off the pitch as a result of their pursuit of Newcastle’s star striker Alexander Isak, and they were not to be disappointed.

They took a 35th-minute lead against the run of play through Ryan Gravenberch and found themselves firmly in the driving seat in first-half stoppage time when Newcastle’s Anthony Gordon, deputising for Isak as a central striker, was sent off after a VAR review of his lunge at Virgil van Dijk.

Hugo Ekitike, who might have been wearing black and white rather than red had the Magpies been able to push home their interest in his before the Reds swooped, doubled their advantage seconds after the restart, but goals from Bruno Guimaraes and substitute Will Osula looked to have given the hosts a point before Rio swept home a winner in the 10th minute of stoppage time.

Slot, who fielded midfielder Dominik Szoboszlai as an emergency right-back, said: “How do you sum up an evening like this up?

“It felt familiar to me. I think I have experienced a game like this once before since I’m here in England – that was Everton away last season, where so many things happened, where it was complete chaos, where the fans were so loud and so there for the home team and our fans tried to help us as much as they could.

“It was an unbelievable atmosphere and for us to stay strong in that atmosphere for such a long time is worth more to me than when we play every single time out from the back and we have a four or five-nil win.”