Arne Slot blasts former Newcastle United target Hugo Ekitike after stupid red card in Carabao Cup win
Liverpool maintained their unbeaten start to the season by overcoming Southampton in the Carabao Cup last night. Just.
Alexander Isak got off the mark for the Reds following his £125 million move from Newcastle United after he missed an easy opportunity in the opening minute.
However, as has been the case all season for Liverpool, it was their other striker, Hugo Ekitike, who stole the headlines.
After snubbing Newcastle, Ekitike has started very well at Liverpool and was on the scoresheet last night, scoring the easiest tap-in he'll ever have.
Who doesn't know that taking your shirt off is an instant yellow card?
However, by his celebration, you'd think he'd just rifled the ball in from 30 yards. Opting to take his shirt off and hold the back up to the crowd, the France star was shown a yellow card for his celebration. Unfortunately for him, he'd already been booked, and he was given his marching orders.
Liverpool boss Arne Slot was less than impressed with the blatant stupidity shown by the young forward, telling Sky Sports it was 'stupid in every sense'.
"Needless? Yes. And it was stupid. The first one was already needless and to a certain extent, stupid, as you have got to control your emotions.
"I told him that if you score in the Champions League final in the 87th minute after outplaying three players and hitting it in the top corner I can maybe understand. He is like, 'This is all about me, what did I do'.
"But I am old-fashioned, I'm 47 and old. I never played at this level but did score a few goals and if I scored a goal like this, I'd have turned around and walked up to Federico Chiesa and said, 'This goal is all about you, this is not about me'.
This is why we're happy we got Nick Woltemade
There were always question marks over Hugo Ekitike's decision-making, and we're not just saying that because he snubbed us twice. He garnered a reputation at PSG for being difficult, and now he goes and does something stupid like this.
He's one hell of a footballer, but this is another example of why we're glad things panned out the way they did and we ended up with Nick Woltemade.
Woltemade has a long way to go, we know, and we'd even say that right now Ekitike is the better player, but Woltemade's head is screwed on; he looks willing to work and ready to live up to the hype. Under Eddie Howe, we are sure he will do just that. Whether Hugo Ekitike would have cut it under Howe, we're not convinced.
