Beyond the obvious entirely insignificant factors like winning a game with relative comfort and getting to keep his job, Arne Slot must have been mightily relieved that Liverpool beat Newcastle.
Their only defeat in 19 meetings with the Magpies had been in last season’s Carabao Cup final; Slot’s dig at Jurgen Klopp losing to them in December 2015 would have felt particularly hollow.
The Dutchman was spared the ignominy of having to trawl back through several seasons’ worth of results in desperate justification by a player who continues to steadfastly reject his casting as a background character, and a team putting in one of their best performances of the season.
That they did so from behind was another sign of progress at a time of immense uncertainty.
That they had to was further proof of Liverpool’s general sense of malaise and insecurity. Newcastle led deservedly on the back of a strong opening 40 minutes, in which they had twice as many shots as their hosts and hit the post through Ashley Barnes.
It was Anthony Gordon, once central to Liverpool’s attacking succession plan, who led the line and scored the goal as both Nick Woltemade and Yoane Wissa watched on from the bench.
But it was Hugo Ekitike, whose snub of Newcastle triggered their summer transfer spiral, who almost single-handedly dragged Liverpool out of their collective haze.
That is perhaps unfair on Florian Wirtz, whose deft assist for the equaliser meant that £169m combination between him and Ekitike had produced a league-leading six goals in all competitions so far this season.
Wirtz rounded off a breakthrough month for the Reds with an inch-perfect finish from Mo Salah’s lay-off, before Ibrahima Konate provided some emotional heft with the fourth goal on his return to the side after the passing of his father.
“The manager said to me I can take my time, I don’t have to rush back,” the centre-half said after the game. “But with this situation I think it was important for me to come back and help the team.
“I think this is what I did today with the team, with Anfield. The atmosphere was unbelievable today. This is what we need until the end of the season.”
Facing an opponent with as poor an away record as Newcastle does help. The absurdly one-sided nature of this apparently ‘toxic’ rivalry has bled from the pitch into the boardrooms and this was painful proof: Newcastle were shredded by a centre-forward they had presciently identified as a natural successor to Alexander Isak, whose defection to Anfield still stings.
Coming to Anfield with a front three comprised entirely of pacy, pressing wide forwards designed to hunt down and prey on a defence low on confidence was a fair plan from Eddie Howe, and one which worked for a time against a nervous Liverpool. But it can only really reflect abysmally on the £120m spent on new centre-forwards who were introduced at 3-1 down with the game gone.
It wasn’t difficult to see why Newcastle felt Ekitike could replace Isak the most seamlessly of all their attainable targets. Both of his finishes were quite unorthodox stabs past Nick Pope in a two-minute showcase of ludicrous ability, exceptional movement and elite anticipation.
The goal which granted Liverpool a lead they would not surrender was stunning: Ekitike collected a Milos Kerkez pass down the line, 35 yards or so out, before sensing and capitalising upon Malick Thiaw’s reluctance to engage with a burst of pace only matched in its ruthlessness by the final touch.
That completely transformed a mood which could have been rather problematic for Slot. Liverpool, heading into half time a goal down at home to mid-table opposition and losing further ground in the Champions League race, would have met a chorus of boos at Anfield to rival those famous Goodison jeers.
But Ekitike’s two-goal salvo flipped the script, rescued three points, lifted the spirits and, most importantly of all, spared Slot another questionable and damaging press conference.
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