Hugo Ekitike scored twice as Liverpool came from behind to beat Newcastle United 4-1
Eddie Howe.
Eddie Howe.(Image: Getty Images)
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Eddie Howe hailed "outstanding" Liverpool star Hugo Ekitike as the Newcastle United boss was forced to rue losing the transfer battle for the Frenchman.
The 23-year-old scored twice as the Reds came from behind to beat the Magpies 4-1. Ekitike nearly made the switch to the North East during the summer window before Arne Slot’s side gazumped their Premier League rivals to his signature. Ekitike’s first-half double inspired the hosts as they had to come from behind after Anthony Gordon fired Newcastle in front.
Ekitike combined with Florian Wirtz for the opener as he stabbed home from the edge of the six-yard box. Then two minutes later, he latched onto a through ball before poking into the far corner past Nick Pope.
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The Reds shifted into gear in the second half and got their rewards with Wirtz continuing his fine run of form, curling low into the bottom corner to double their advantage.
Ibrahima Konate rounded off the scoring, marking his return to the squad with an emotional goal, two weeks after the death of his father.
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Howe couldn’t help but admire Ekitike’s quality, describing the 23-year-old as a player who has “a little bit of everything”.
He said: “He's an outstanding player and I think you saw that today. He's got a little bit of everything and I think that's his biggest strength. He's tall, he is quick and he can finish.
“You’ve got to give Ekitike a lot of credit for the second one but, still a tough angle to score from. That’s what happens here when you get the crowd up and before we knew it we were chasing the game.
“It would be a long conversation if I was to go through all goals. We obviously didn't organise ourselves in the correct way and we got punished.
“But I have to say we got punished from a great goal from Ekitke's perspective and sometimes you have to acknowledge the quality of the player against you. Although acknowledging again that we could have defended it better.”
However, Howe dismissed the claim that losing out on Ekitke made the defeat more difficult to stomach, as he felt in key moments, they failed to deal with Liverpool’s star players.
He said: “It's not about that, it is about us vs them. Obviously, their team is very strong and they've got outstanding players. I thought we controlled those players pretty well through the game, but just in the key moments we didn't."