- Slot slams Newcastle’s style
- Ngumoha’s late winner stuns St. James’ Park
- The ball was in play for just 40.8 percent of the time
The first half alone saw 19 fouls, crunching tackles, and tempers flaring. The contest tilted further when Anthony Gordon, deployed out of position as a makeshift striker, was shown a red card in injury-time for a reckless challenge on Virgil van Dijk.
With ten men, Newcastle abandoned any pretence of open play, instead relying on long throws, free-kicks, and booming deliveries from goalkeeper Nick Pope. Bruno Guimaraes headed home on 57 minutes, and substitute Will Osula bundled in an 88th-minute equaliser after Liverpool failed to clear a hopeful punt forward. Slot, clearly unimpressed, accused Howe’s men of dragging the game into an old-school scrap rather than a contest of tactics and flair.
The Liverpool boss told Sky Sports: “I’m not too sure if I saw a football match today. It was set-piece after set-piece, long throw. It didn’t have a lot to do with tactics, what I said before the game, but I liked a lot how we stood strong. Very difficult first half hour, 45 minutes, but we didn’t collapse at all, we stood strong. Going down to 10 men, you would expect that that is a big plus for us, but when a goalkeeper takes every free kick, then there’s not so much help if you are one player up, and that’s why it was so difficult for us to bring the 2-0 over the line.”
Slot admitted that Liverpool created little from open play in the second half but praised the sweeping move that led to Ngumoha’s winner.
“I don’t think there was so much open play to be played,” he said. “In a set-piece, a long throw-in, a long ball from the goalkeeper, you don’t need an extra man. It’s always nice to have an extra player on hand, but it’s just not as beneficial as if they want to bring the ball out from the back and we can press them. So, yes, with the ball, the one and only attack that was good in the second half, apart from maybe the 2-0, that was the one that led to the goal, which was a great attack. And for the first time, we went from right to the middle to the left, and a great goal for a 16-year-old.
“Maybe it wasn’t the best game in terms of tactics or in terms of playing football, but I think every fan everywhere around the world enjoyed watching this game of football, also because their fans were amazing in terms of the help they gave the home team.”
The statistics underline just how fractured the game was. The ball was in play for just 40.8 per cent of the contest, the lowest figure in the Premier League since February 2010, when Stoke faced Blackburn. It was more stop-start battle than flowing football, and Slot’s irritation was clear.
After winning their first two matches of the new Premier League season, Liverpool head into next Sunday’s showdown with title rivals Arsenal full of confidence, even if Slot will demand more composure and less chaos at Anfield.
