Former Liverpool midfielder Danny Murphy reckons Hugo Ekitike has a “bee in his bonnet” after being sent off against Southampton on Tuesday night.
The France international scored the winning goal as the Reds beat the Championship side 2-1 in the League Cup after Shea Charles had cancelled out Alexander Isak’s first goal for the Premier League champions.
Liverpool striker Ekitike had already picked up a booking earlier in the match and was shown a second yellow card for taking his shirt off in celebration of his goal.
Instead of celebrating with Federico Chiesa, who put the goal on a plate for him, Ekitike decided to celebrate in the corner by himself and show the crowd his name of the back of his shirt.
Slot told ITV: “I didn’t understand it.
“Maybe I’m a bit old fashioned and a bit old school, but if I scored a goal after going past three men and hit it in the top corner, I would have maybe celebrated completely by myself.
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“But if I got an assist like that one from Federico Chiesa, I probably would have turned around and pointed at him like ‘yeah you have made this whole goal for me’.
“So that’s why I was a little bit surprised that is how he celebrated. And even worse, took his shirt off and got his second yellow.
“Not just because it was a second yellow but it always stupid to take your shirt off and take a yellow because if this happens somewhere in the game every time you make a foul it could be a second yellow.
“I think if you score a goal like this, I would have gone to the guy who made the assist, but that is not so important, it’s stupid to take your shirt off.”
On Slot’s comments, Murphy said on talkSPORT: “So refreshing, isn’t it to not jump to the defence and make excuses exactly what he said. You know, it wasn’t a 30 yarder in the top corner.
“It was a tap in after Chiesa had put it on a plate for him, just he seems to have a bit of a bee in his bonnet when he came on. I mean, he’s had a wonderful start. Fans have taken to him. He’s got five goals.”
When asked whether it was a reaction to Isak breathing down his neck, Murphy added: “A little bit. It felt that way, like, I’ll show you look it is my shirt. Is my name. It’s about me.”
On whether he was disappointed in Ekitike, Murphy continued: “Erm, he’s a young guy. He’s emotional. It happens, you know, if that’s the worst thing he does in a Liverpool shirt, nobody will care. The actual output physically on the pitch and the goal scoring has been great.
“There was some positives, actually last night, Southampton played well, they give a good account of themselves. Chiesa was terrific. The young Italian boy, Leoni, good debut.”
Former Crystal Palace chairman Simon Jordan has praised Slot for his comments after the Liverpool boss called out Ekitike for his “stupid” sending off.
When asked what he thought of Slot’s comments, Jordan replied: “Well, yes, I think it’s also the product of someone that’s in control of the dressing room. Because you’ve got a winning team, you’ve got a team that he’s walked through the door and they’ve won the league.
“They’ve started the season now with five wins in the Premier League. They’re top of the Premier League. They’re not playing particularly well, but they’re still top of the Premier League. And so with all that in mind, that’s the currency that he gets.
“I wonder if he’d have done this five games into his first season, and they hadn’t established the credentials…maybe he would. But you have to call it for what it is.
“It’s honesty, it’s a bit of authenticity. It’s what he thinks, rather than what he thinks he should say to keep a dressing room on side. That dressing room is on side. A, because he’s got an embarrassment of riches, because if they don’t come on side, he’ll change them anyway, which is kind of what the PSG coach’s mentality is, [Luis] Enrique, you come training late, you don’t play.
“And that mentality is only allowed to you if you’ve got an embarrassment of riches. But notwithstanding that, put all that to one side, it’s nice to hear it. It’s what people know, it’s what people think, it’s what people should say.
“And also one should have to bend over backwards to pamper the egos of young players that can’t take a bit of criticism when he’s not stupid. So well done him.”
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