Harvey Elliott sends message to Liverpool teammate whose performance just wowed him
Liverpool’s 3-2 victory over Newcastle United saw records tumble thanks to the latest “young king” to come out of the Anfield system.
Arne Slot‘s side secured a snatch-and-grab victory at St. James’ Park despite playing the second half with a one-man advantage, after Anthony Gordon’s red card for a lunge on Virgil van Dijk late in the first.
Newcastle dominated the 11 men of Liverpool for large swathes of the second half, coming back to level the scores at 2-2 after Ryan Gravenberch and Hugo Ekitike’s goals either side of half-time for the Reds.
Bruno Guimaraes and William Osula’s pair of second-half strikes had all-but secured a point for the Mgagpies, only for Liverpool to play a trump card of their own in the form of 16-year-old Rio Ngumoha.
Rio Ngumoha smashes Liverpool record v Newcastle
Harvey Elliott, Wataru Endo and Ngumoha were thrown on together after Osula’s 88th-minute equaliser at St. James’, as the board went up to indicate another 11 of stoppage time for Liverpool and Newcastle.
The Reds had hardly generated a chance between Ekitike‘s strike in the first minute of the second half and the very end of added time, as Mohamed Salah‘s ball across the box was left by Dominik Szoboszlai.
Szoboszlai‘s dummy left an unmarked Ngumoha clear to rifle home a first-time winner at the far post and spark raptures in the away end, as the teenage winger became Liverpool’s youngster ever goalscorer.
Liverpool shared this new record in a post on Instagram at full-time, which Elliott shared to his own story late on Monday with the message of: “Proud of you, young king”.
Newcastle, Ngumoha combine to change Liverpool transfer plans
Football Insider Verdict
The pre-match discourse ahead of Liverpool’s trip to the North East was dominated by Alexander Isak‘s continued push for a move to Anfield, and he was absent from Newcastle’s matchday squad as a result.
However, Newcastle’s dominance of Monday’s match despite their one-man disadvantage highlighted the need for Liverpool to strengthen in defence rather than attack, as did Ekitike scoring once again.
Ngumoha’s instant impact and entry into the record books makes the need for attacking reinforcements an even lesser requirement, and Slot must turn attention to his defence in order to maintain the 16-year-old’s pathway into the first team.