‘Got to love that guy’ – Steve Nicol lauds one thing Arne Slot did after midweek Carabao Cup win | OneFootball

Steve Nicol has praised Arne Slot for one thing the Liverpool head coach did after the Reds’ 2-1 win over Southampton on Tuesday night.

The Premier League leaders booked their place in the fourth round of the Carabao Cup (in which they’ll meet Crystal Palace) after a late winner from Hugo Ekitike, who was duly sent off for a second bookable offence after he removed his shirt in celebrating the goal (an act for which he’s since apologised).

The head coach didn’t spare the striker in his post-match assessment as he bluntly called out the ‘needless’ and ‘stupid’ manner in which the 23-year-old got himself dismissed (liverpoolfc.com), with Jeremie Frimpong also unable to contain his annoyance at his teammate on the pitch.

Nicol praises Slot’s handling of Ekitike red card

Speaking on ESPN FC as the panel reflected on Liverpool’s victory, Nicol praised Slot for his directness in condemning the player’s actions without personally ridiculing him.

The former Reds defender said of the Dutchman: “You’ve got to love that guy! What’s not to love about Arne Slot? He doesn’t mess around with it; he’s not coming out and trying to be the hard man and drive it down Ekitike’s throat. He just does things the right way and says what he has to say.

“He’s not trying to cover it up. Loads of managers would come out and say ‘leave him alone, he’s only young, blah blah’, but he doesn’t do that.

“He’s telling you, ‘I told him it was stupid, I told him what he should have been doing’; but he does it in such a way that you don’t take offence, and I’m sure Ekitike won’t take it in offence. I love the way the guy handles himself.”

(Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images)

Slot invariably chooses the right words to say

We agree that Slot dealt with the Frenchman’s bizarre dismissal in the right way – it was impossible to defend, but the head coach criticised the action rather than launching any personal attack on the player.

If the Liverpool boss was that forthright in public, you can be sure that what he’s said privately to Ekitike will have been even more hard-hitting, and he’ll be looking to the 23-year-old to learn from such an avoidable lapse in judgement.

Since taking the reins at Anfield nearly 16 months ago, the Dutchman has come across as a genial figure who consistently speaks well and chooses the right words (particularly on extremely sensitive topics with which he’s had to deal throughout 2025), but who undoubtedly commands a firm authority.

Slot will surely have given the striker a rollicking behind closed doors, but will also be counting on him to maintain his excellent goalscoring form once he’s served his suspension after the weekend visit to Crystal Palace.

Hopefully Ekitike can get back among the goals in our subsequent games away to Galatasaray and Chelsea and resume making the right kind of headlines after his midweek aberration.