Arne Slot, head coach of reigning English Kings, Liverpool, said, it was a “special” moment for youngster, Rio Ngumoha, after netting the Reds’ winner against Newcastle United in the Premier League 2025/26 match on Monday night.
It concluded 3-2 at St. James’ Park on Monday 25 August, 2025 between Newcastle United and Liverpool, in favour of the Reds, thanks to Ngumoha’s goal in the 10th minute of additional time.
The outcome makes it a perfect start to the new campaign for Liverpool as they remain on course to defending the Premier League title.
The Dutch manager described his side’s victory as “unbelievable” after a stubborn Eddie Howe’s Newcastle United has levelled from two goals down.
Slot said, “It was an unbelievable atmosphere”.
According to Liverpool official website, at his post-Newcastle press conference, Slot said:
On the showdown…
“How do you sum 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. These wins, these mean more to me than when we play good football because tonight had, for me, nothing to do with tactics or good football.”
On Ngumoha netting the winner…
“It’s, of course, special for him to score a goal in a moment like this. We know how it feels [as] last season we conceded the 3-3 in the 89th minute. And now we were the lucky ones – that’s what we were, we were lucky to get a winner over the line here.
On whether he felt disappointed about Liverpool not taking charge of the second half more…
“No, not at all. Not at all, because that is what their playing style brought. You cannot control a game of football if every single ball is thrown into your 18-yard box, every throw-in is a long throw-in, every free-kick they get is a long ball. And they can do both – that’s why this is such a good team. They can play out from the back if they want to, they can be intense in their pressing, they have so many quality players. But they also have the quality to play a game like this with so many big players.
“It was impossible for us to control the game. When we had the ball, we kept it quite long and I was hoping for us to do more, to create more, because our attackers were not patient enough.
“We couldn’t control the game better but that was mainly to do with their playing style and how hard they made it for us.”
Liverpool will welcome Arsenal at Anfield for their next Premier League game on Sunday 31 August, 2025 at 16:30 (WAT).
