Arne Slot hails Liverpool's 'mentality to fight' after late Ngumoha winner

Liverpool manager Arne Slot praised his team's mentality after watching them counter Newcastle United's unlikely fightback with a decisive final punch delivered by 16-year-old debutant Rio Ngumoha.

The teenager came off the bench to score deep into stoppage time in Monday's Premier League encounter at St. James' Park as the champions snatched a 3-2 victory after 10-man Newcastle had battled back from 2-0 down.

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. But to have the mentality to fight here in such a hostile stadium, that is definitely something you also need if you want to compete in the end.

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"Winning is something else but at least competing you definitely need to have this mentality -- and that's what we showed."

The atmosphere on Tyneside was electric, and quite hostile for the away side given Liverpool's pursuit of Newcastle's star striker, Alexander Isak. Liverpool took a 35th-minute lead against the run of play through Ryan Gravenberch and found themselves firmly in the driving seat in first-half stoppage time when Newcastle's Anthony Gordon, deputising for Isak as a central striker, was sent off after a VAR review of his lunge at Virgil van Dijk.

Hugo Ekitike -- another pain point for the Newcastle faithful, who had seen Liverpool act on their interest in the striker before their own club -- doubled their advantage seconds after the restart, but goals from Bruno Guimaraes and substitute William Osula looked to have given the hosts a point before Ngumoha swept home a winner in the 10th minute of stoppage time.

Where Ngumoha's goal ranks

With his stoppage-time winner against Newcastle on Monday, Liverpool teenager Rio Ngumoha became the fourth youngest goalscorer in Premier League history.

Slot, who fielded midfielder Dominik Szoboszlai as an emergency right-back, said: "How do you sum up 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 than when we play every single time out from the back and we have a four or five-nil win."