Steven Gerrard and Jermaine Pennant both make the same plea to Arne Slot after Wolves humbling
Steven Gerrard and Jermaine Pennant have both called for Arne Slot to hand Rio Ngumoha a starting berth when Liverpool face Wolves in the FA Cup on Friday night.
Round 1 of this week’s Molineux double header between the two teams went the way of the home side, who secured just their third Premier League win of the season with a stoppage-time goal that James Pearce diplomatically described as a ‘mess’.
It was another game where the 17-year-old was brought on in the second half to replace Cody Gakpo, who endured yet another frustrating night in front of goal, and two former LFC teammates now believe that the teenager should get the nod on the left wing when the teams resume battle later this week.
Gerrard and Pennant both call for Ngumoha to start on Friday
Speaking on TNT Sports after the game, Gerrard stated: “He has to start Ngumoha now. He’s coming on and doing more in a short space of time than Gakpo is doing in 65-70 minutes, so he deserves to start now. He’s got to start the kid on Friday night.”
Meanwhile, Pennant aired similar views on X as he posted: ‘Rio now must start on Friday night. AGAIN did more than Gakpo when he came on than what Gakpo did the whole game. You know why he did more? [Because] he goes to the byline, he cuts inside, he’s not predictable. WHY on earth isn’t Slot telling him? If every single fan [is] thinking it…’
How did Ngumoha and Gakpo compare on Tuesday night?
While there was some willingness from the Dutchman to run at the Wolves defence in the first half last night, it was by and large another game which passed him by, and he probably cost Curtis Jones a goal when inadvertently blocking the midfielder’s effort from point-blank range shortly after the interval.
In his first Premier League outing to last for than 20 minutes, Ngumoha was lively yet again, and he was unlucky not to score with a curled shot that Jose Sa did brilliantly to tip onto the post.
The figures from Sofascore (see below) compare the impact of the two wingers at Molineux, with the numbers in brackets representing their averages per minute played for each metric.
| Cody Gakpo | Rio Ngumoha | |
| Minutes played | 65 | 25 |
| Duels won | 2 (0.03) | 2 (0.08) |
| Accurate passes | 23 (0.35) | 11 (0.44) |
| Shots on target | 1 (0.02) | 1 (0.04) |
| Successful dribbles | 0 | 2 (0.08) |
| Touches | 38 (0.58) | 23 (0.92) |
| Key passes | 0 | 2 (0.08) |
| Big chances created | 0 | 1 (0.04) |
When factoring in those respective statistics, as well as the quick turnaround to Friday’s fixture and the Champions League trip to Istanbul early next week, there’s a strong case to be made for Ngumoha to be handed a start in the FA Cup clash, just as he was against Barnsley in January.
Slot recently said that he’d be ‘surprised’ if the 17-year-old didn’t get ‘more minutes’ in the near future. Now could be the time for the Liverpool head coach to act upon those words and put his full trust in the teenage talent, who thus far has played in every single game as if his life depended upon it.
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