Rio Ngumoha of Liverpool shakes hands with Arne Slot, Manager of Liverpool as he is substituted during the Carabao Cup Fourth Round match between Liverpool and Crystal Palace at Anfield on October 29, 2025 in Liverpool, England. (Photo by Dan Istitene/Getty Images)placeholder image
Rio Ngumoha of Liverpool shakes hands with Arne Slot, Manager of Liverpool as he is substituted during the Carabao Cup Fourth Round match between Liverpool and Crystal Palace at Anfield on October 29, 2025 in Liverpool, England. (Photo by Dan Istitene/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Short of inspiration, should Arne Slot have turned to Rio Ngumoha to inspire Liverpool v Galatasaray?
If you are old enough, you are good enough. Whoever said this certainly wasn’t Arne Slot with the Liverpool boss refusing to turn to Rio Ngumoha once again.
The Reds boss has moaned about needing a bit of magic when playing against low blocks or when chances have been at a premium and yet, with Mohamed Salah’s star on the wane, the teenage winger has rarely been seen off the bench or from the start – especially in terms of minutes played. The former Chelsea kid was, arguably, the most consistent and exciting performer in pre-season and looked to have made his mark against Newcastle United early in the campaign with his late winner.
Don Hutchison defends Arne Slot call
With Liverpool struggling for ideas against Galatasaray, Slot turned to Jeremie Frimpong to replace Salah and Cody Gakpo to replace Florian Wirtz, neither of whom had made any sort of real impression against the Turkish league leaders. A full-back, and a winger who refuses to do anything other than cut inside. Frimpong’s strength is in attacking from deep and overlapping, he isn’t a natural winger, despite his pace and ability in one v one situations. Ngumoha, on the other hand is.
According to former Liverpool midfielder Don Hutchison though, this doesn’t mean that Slot should be turning to the teenage flyer: “Do you honestly think Gala at home is the place for Rio to be starting? At Anfield in the 2nd leg then. The kid is only 17 with couple of starts behind him. Gala is an incredibly hostile atmosphere. Rio has a long brilliant future ahead of him. Be patient.” The pundit was responding to a fan questioning why Ngumoha didn’t see any game time, and he has a point, to an extent. But was St James’ Park any less hostile when he showed composure whilst everyone else was losing theirs all around him?
What has Slot said about Ngumoha?
Slot continues to suggest that he is doing Ngumoha a favour by picking him when he does, rather than just seeing him for what he is, an outstanding player who is capable of making a difference: “I think it's special if you're a 17-year-old and you play in a Premier League match. I know it's an FA Cup match, but two Premier League sides playing against each other,” Slot said after the FA Cup win over Wolves.
“If you're then able already 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 football that can take one-v-ones on. That's something he can. He also - in my opinion - did better than three days ago because he kept the ball more.
“Three days ago he lost it a few times as well. So, three days ago he also had his impact with his actions.” If he wasn’t 17, Ngumoha would have played against Galatasaray, how are the Wolves players any less physical than those who he would have faced in Turkey? As with most things Slot says now, little is making sense.
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