Arne Slot praised teenage winger Rio Ngumoha after his impressive display in Liverpool’s 3-1 FA Cup win over Wolves, but challenged the youngster to follow the example set by Mohamed Salah.
Ngumoha, was handed a rare start on the left wing and troubled the Wolves defence throughout the night before being substituted with around 20 minutes remaining.
His performance earned him the Man of the Match award, though Slot stressed that maintaining that level consistently will be the real test.
“Good performance, I think he was even better than when he came on three days ago. He kept the ball really well, was a threat constantly,” Slot said.
“A player that, as we know because we weren’t seeing him for the first time, he is able to beat his man in one-v-one situations.”
“That is something you don’t see a lot in modern football, so good performance from him.”
“That is special if you are 17 years old and you can impact a Premier League game – I know it is an FA Cup game, but two Premier League sides – in this manner that shows that he has a lot of qualities.”
Despite the praise, Slot highlighted Salah as the benchmark the young winger should aim to emulate if he wants to build a long-term career at the top level.
“On the other side there is a player, Mo Salah, who he needs to take the example of.”
“Being a good player is not so difficult but being a good player every three days over a long, long period of time is something we are going to work on with him to ensure he can get to those levels.”
Slot also dismissed suggestions that left-back Andy Robertson has been overlooked this season. Robertson produced an influential performance at Molineux, scoring and grabbing an assist in the win.
“I think they all want to play every single game, which is not always possible. Robbo hasn’t played as much as last season, but still played a lot of minutes,” Slot said.
“That is also due to the fact that we have two very good left full-backs, but he did his job very well today.”
“If you are a full-back, a defender, and you score a goal and have an assist, and – I would almost say keep a clean sheet, but we conceded one at the end where he had his involvement – but I think he played a really good game.”
