Rio Ngumoha continued to prove he’s ready for more first-team football after his cameo off the bench for Liverpool vs Wolverhampton Wanderers.
For large periods of Tuesday night’s defeat against Wolves, the Reds were, and rightly so, described as ‘boring’.
Liverpool had 0.21xG in the first half, and Cody Gakpo continues to frustrate, leaving fans asking for Rio Ngumoha to be given more minutes.
Whose performance concerned you the most against Wolves?
Some utterly abject displays
Liverpool fans want Rio Ngumoha to be given more playing time
Just like his appearances against Nottingham Forest and West Ham United, the teenager injected some much-needed pace and creativity into what was a flat Liverpool frontline.
Now, after he forced a brilliant save from the Wolves goalkeeper late on March 3, fans have urged Slot to start playing Ngumoha more.
One fan wrote: “If Slot had —– he’d start Rio Ngumoha over Mohamed Salah. He’s a better player now.”
A second echoed: “Rio Ngumoha has to start every game man. I’m sick of this. Van Dijk needs to speak to Slot.”
“Why can’t Slot start Ngumoha? What’s actually wrong?” Questioned a third Liverpool fan.
Another was left baffled, writing: “Rio really doesn’t start games for us, bro, Slot.”
A fifth added: “He could easily start Rio but he chooses not to. 100% on Slot.”
“Why start boring Gakpo? Start Rio! Come on Slot, think!” Commented another Reds supporter.
A seventh wrote: “I still don’t understand why Slot doesn’t play Rio or give him more playing time.”
Another summed it up well, stating: “If Slot cared any jot about the quality of entertainment in the Premier League, he’d play Rio Ngumoha from the start. Kid is magic and did more in 30 seconds than Gakpo has done in months.”
Rio Ngumoha and Cody Gakpo stats vs Wolves
After featuring for 65 minutes, Gakpo was taken off with an xA of 0.05, 0 crosses completed, 0 key passes, and no dribbles completed.
Nguomoha, despite playing less than half of the Dutchman’s minutes, had more of an impact on the Reds’ attack.
His xG from shots on target was 0.36 (0.02 for Gakpo), he notched an xA of 0.41, made one key pass, created one big chance (zero for Gakpo) and completed both of his attempted dribbles.
Will Ngumoha now replace Gakpo in the XI for the FA Cup meeting with Wolves on Friday? There doesn’t seem to be any reason not to make that change, but based on how Slot has favoured Gakpo this season, fans probably shouldn’t get their hopes up.
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