Slot hails 'mentality to fight' of his team after St James' drama

LIVERPOOL boss Arne Slot saluted his team’s fighting mentality after watching them kill off Newcastle’s unlikely fightback with the decisive final punch.

- By DAMIAN SPELLMAN

The Reds led Eddie Howe's 10 men 2-0 after 46 minutes at St James' Park on Monday evening and looked set to cruise to victory before the Magpies dragged themselves back into the game only to be felled finally by 16-year-old substitute Rio Ngumoha.

Slot later admitted that the champions had been "lucky" to emerge with the points, but asked if that kind of result on that kind of night was what won titles, he replied: "That is the last thing I think about in this moment, if I'm honest.

"Winning away at Newcastle, then you definitely need to have quality, especially in an atmosphere like this - not football quality because that’s not what we showed today, apart from the last goal we scored.

"That looked a little bit like what I see on a daily basis on the training ground.