Liverpool 4-1 Newcastle
by James Nalton
at Anfield

THERE could not have been a more popular goalscorer in Anfield on Saturday than Ibrahima Konate, who turned home Liverpool’s fourth goal in added time to complete a convincing victory against Newcastle.

Konate had stood out for the previous 90 minutes on his return to the Liverpool side following a period of compassionate leave after his father’s death earlier this month.

He came back to Liverpool earlier than originally planned, indicating to manager Arne Slot that he wanted to help his team, which had been struggling for numbers in defence due to injuries.

The Frenchman won numerous defensive challenges against former Everton forward Anthony Gordon, which went down well on the red side of Merseyside, and Konate’s name was chanted regularly throughout the game.

He was understandably emotional in his celebrations, comforted by team-mates, especially his centre-back partner Virgil van Dijk and goalkeeper Alisson Becker.

The moment came at the end of an impressive victory for Liverpool, but one in which they had made an unconvincing start.

Gordon gave Newcastle the lead, firing a shot through the legs of the unlucky Milos Kerkez, which helped the strike find its way past Alisson.

It looked like it might be another, increasingly familiar, stodgy performance from Slot’s team, but a moment of magic from Florian Wirtz turned the game around.

The German danced through the Newcastle penalty area before turning the ball inside, where Hugo Ekitike was waiting to apply the finish.

The link-up between the two new signings is getting more encouraging by the week for Liverpool.

Ekitike was compared to Fernando Torres by former Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard on the TV broadcast, and backed up this comparison with a change of pace and a convincing outside-of-the-boot shot to give Liverpool the lead. From there, they never looked like losing.

That could not always be said of a leading Liverpool this season, and they also did what they have been unable to do on numerous occasions by making sure of the win with further goals.

Mohamed Salah laid the ball back for Wirtz, and the star of the show sent a finishing touch smoothly and confidently into the corner of Nick Pope’s goal.

Konate’s late effort was the icing on the cake. It was an outstanding display from the defender throughout, and he was up there with Wirtz and Ekitike as Liverpool’s best player in one of their best performances of the season.