Hugo Ekitike will learn from his mistakes after being sent off for removing his shirt. It’s our job to support him during that process…
I CONSTANTLY talk about how lucky I am to see Liverpool regularly and in-person.
The obvious reasons apply; there are people all over the world who can’t, I don’t have to worry about access because of my season ticket, and that football in a stadium is just different.
Different in a sense that it becomes more human as an experience. Human brilliance can be marvelled over when seeing it in the flesh. Human error can be more understandable and forgiving.
Can be.
What Hugo Ekitkike did against Southampton was daft. An imbecilic act of showmanship which should be reserved for the big occasions under the lights, of which this very much wasn’t.
But try telling that to the youngster who was watching their first Liverpool game or the person who’s flown five thousand miles to see Anfield in real life.
Guilt about my match going privilege aside, it wasn’t really the moment to go full Lionel Messi. We certainly know how Arne Slot felt, and as a man closer to Slot’s age than Ekitike’s, I could relate to the idea of him getting on one knee and kissing the hand of Federico Chiesa over wheeling away shirtless.
There haven’t been many occasions when celebrating a Liverpool goal has slightly given me the ick. The one that springs to mind is Steven Gerrard wheeling away screaming ‘I’m the fucking man’ after a trademark thunderbolt free-kick in a league game against Portsmouth around 2005.
We constantly put these players on pedestals. We demand that young men show the maturity and wisdom of those way above our own years. Our job is to talk about their worth. We do this in an ability, monetary, mentality sense. Can we blame them for adopting some of that superhero status when they deliver?
Ekitike is barely 23-years-old. He has moved to England’s biggest club and has clocked up goals, including a Merseyside derby winner. No wonder he’s riding high. In a sense, it’s no wonder he wants everyone to remember the name.
This is always a fine line. Nobody should want to temper such exuberance. Liverpool have bought young to future proof the squad and in doing so have added more energy and inexperience to proceedings. Maturity comes from experience. That experience will now happen at Liverpool.
We’ve watched strikers go on this journey many times. Scousers like Robbie Fowler and Wayne Rooney were far from placid and crossed lines. They weren’t machiavellian, just young and on a journey. Compared to Michael Owen they were outlaws of the state.
But that was then. Today, with every millisecond of a players lifestyle and routine accounted for, and with every aspect of their action analysed, it’s different. Ekitike constantly lives somewhere between recovery days and match days minus three, two or one. Online, Arsenal fan media are comparing how he and Victor Gyokeres celebrate goals.
Discourse doesn’t need headlines in the modern day. Liverpool try to protect their players from such impact and constantly look for grounding in the squad. Slot confirmed that Ekitike hadn’t been fined for his moment of stupidity and I’m glad. Mostly because I trust he above everyone knows it has been learnt from.
There is nothing else to question. Social media wants you to believe there are subliminal messages to Alexander Isak about who is top dog. Conspiracy theorists are calling it the new Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane internal rivalry. Opposition fans are digging up all kinds of whataboutery for clicks and numbers.
Liverpool will hopefully see years of magic from the French forward. We will watch him grow and learn and he’ll do it on our watch. To that end, it’s our job to protect him and manage expectations. Not to draw too many inferences when mistakes are made. For a bit of grace which he undoubtedly has.
A win tomorrow at Crystal Palace certainly helps this process. I imagine nobody will be craving that more than Hugo Ekitike.
