One remarkable Ngumoha stat which underlines Slot faith but defines Liverpool ‘civil war’ | OneFootball

Arne Slot was right: Rio Ngumoha has played the most minutes of any 17-year-old in the Premier League this season.

The Liverpool manager’s claim that “I don’t think there is an 18-year-old or 19-year-old that has maybe played as many minutes as Rio” was unfortunately way off.

Mateus Mane, Joshua King, Eli Junior Kroupi, Lewis Miley and Archie Gray have all been given around 10 times the minutes of Ngumoha this season, if not more.

But it was a fair reminder that this is a player whose opportunities are being understandably managed by a club as well-versed as any in the dangers of burning out those bright teenage lights too early.

If the onus is on Ngumoha to force the situation and put pressure on his manager, he can hardly be accused of letting the chance pass him by. An inspiring cameo against Nottingham Forest ensured the clamour for him to start is the strongest it has been since that sensational late winner against Newcastle in August.

Perhaps that should have been more of a springboard into the first team, rather than the origin of an Anfield ‘civil war’. There is a middle ground between handling an emerging young talent with care and risking overexposure and Slot should certainly stand accused of not even trying to find it while mollycoddling Cody Gakpo and platforming Mo Salah.

In about 20 minutes at The City Ground, Ngumoha matched the combined efforts of both in terms of key passes, while out-dribbling them two to zero.

As Jamie Carragher said, the England youth international “changed the game and needs to be starting games”.

It is increasingly difficult to argue otherwise, and not just because of how impressive Ngumoha has been; those playing ahead of him are simply not producing a standard congruous with Slot’s faith in them.

The Dutchman does trust Ngumoha. All nine of his substitute cameos have come when Liverpool were losing or drawing. That shows a confidence in him as a game-changer but there is certainly a school of thought that the player might have benefited from more chances in kinder, less panicked circumstances.

This was remarkably the first Premier League win in which he has appeared since the narrow September victory over Burnley.

After triumphing in a position of adversity again, the cries for Ngumoha to simply be given more than a handful of minutes will intensify.

Only six players have featured more often in the Premier League this season without starting. But Ross Barkley, Ethan Nwaneri, Christantus Uche, Enes Unal, Ezra Mayers and Jack Fletcher can all point to at least one player deservedly ahead of them in the pecking order for their continued plight.