Arne Slot reflects on 'special' Rio Ngumoha performance in Liverpool FA Cup win
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Liverpool Echo IconSportFootballLiverpool FCArne Slot credits Rio Ngumoha for his performance as Liverpool beat Wolves 3-1 to reach the FA Cup quarter-finalsArne Slot paid tribute to "special" Rio Ngumoha after the teenager shone in Liverpool's 3-1 FA Cup win over Wolves at Molineux. on Friday night.Ngumoha was making just his fourth start of the campaign and excelled on the left side of the attack as goals from Andy Robertson, Mohamed Salah and Curtis Jones sealed a place in the quarter-finals for the Reds.Rio Ngumoha worked Wolves goalkeeper Sam Johnstone on a handful of occasions and was a constant threat all night with his direct dribbling before he was replaced by the returning Florian Wirtz with around 20 minutes remaining.And Slot, who has faced calls to start the former Chelsea academy player more regularly in recent weeks, said he was impressed by what he saw from his youngster.FOLLOW OUR LIVERPOOL FC FACEBOOK PAGE! All the latest news and analysis from Anfield on the Liverpool Echo's dedicated LFC Facebook page"It was special because if you're 17 years old, and you can impact two Premier League sides facing each other, then that tells you how good of a player he is," the Liverpool head coach said."But it is up to him to bring this every time.
This should give him a lot of confidence to show this in an away game."He was good, I think it is special that it is a Premier League match, I know it is an FA Cup fixture, but two Premier League clubs against each other, if you then are able already able to impact it with some very good one-v-one situations, that is also what makes him special."Because there are not many players in the modern game who can take one-v-ones on and that is something he can do."Slot added: "He also did better than three days ago because he kept the ball more whereas three days ago he lost it more. So three days ago he impacted with his actions but he was even better where he had to keep the ball."It was a nice game where you face five defenders, so as a winger, you don't have to do as much defensively when you face four defenders, so it was nice game for him to use all his attacking energy rather than defending when you have to against four at the back."Slot's warm words were shared by captain Virgil van Dijk, who said of the teenager: "Rio was outstanding, made life difficult for their right-wing-back, right-centre-back as well.“Very pleased, we all see what a special talent he is in terms of 1v1s, the pace, the way he drives at players, he’s working hard, he’s a good boy.“We are looking after him, we speak to him constantly, he needs to keep learning, keep soaking it all up.
Today was a good day for him.”Choose Liverpool Echo as a 'Preferred Source' on Google News for quick access to the news you value.Liverpool FCArne SlotRio Ngumoha