Arne Slot praised Rio Ngumoha for ‘impacting the game’ and ‘showing his quality’ against Yokohama FM, but encouraged the youngster to take some key learnings away from Liverpool’s 3-1 win.
The Premier League champions were forced to come behind after Asahi Uenaka beat Giorgi Mamardashvili from a tight angle ten minutes into the second half at Yokohama’s Nissan Stadium.
Marquee summer signing Florian Wirtz opened his Liverpool account to equalise just past the hour-mark before second-half substitutes Trey Nyoni and Ngumoha both netted to secure victory.
Ngumoha became Liverpool’s youngest ever player to feature in an FA Cup match when he made his first-team debut last season and the 16-year-old has been tipped by fans and pundits alike for a bright future on Merseyside.
The teenager’s sublime solo effort to put Slot’s men out of sight in the closing stages was arguably the pick of the goals in Japan, with Liverpool’s No.73 setting off on a mazy run from the halfway line before squeezing the ball under Park Il-gyu with a cool finish.
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The Reds ramp up their preparations for the new campaign with a pre-season friendly against Athletic Bilbao in five days’ time and Ngumoha will no doubt be hoping to get some more minutes under his belt in front of a home crowd at Anfield.
Asked how happy he was with Ngumoha’s impact off the bench, Slot told reporters: ‘He wasn’t the only one that impacted the game from the bench because Trey Nyoni also scored, assisted by Jeremie Frimpong.
‘In the first goal, I think Curtis Jones played a big part by winning the ball in the midfield.
‘Rio, again, showed the quality that he has and that’s nice for us because we have a lot of very good players, but to get some very good players from the academy is always helpful. It always gives energy to a team as well.
‘It’s always nice to see players at 17, 18, 19 years old already impacting a game, but there was also a moment in the game where he should have squared it to [Alexis] Mac Allister or Curtis so there are also learning points for him.
‘But yeah, if you’re 16 and you can impact a game like he did then that’s definitely worth a compliment.’
Slot was pleased that Liverpool managed to come away from the ‘intense’ contest with a win, but felt there were certain areas they must look to improve before facing Athletic Bilbao.
‘It was a good game against an opponent that is already in the middle of the season and is used to the circumstances over here,’ the Liverpool head coach added.
‘They made it an intense game for us which is always nice to have in pre-season because this is also what we’re looking for.
‘What want to have teams that can really compete with us and they were definitely one of them.
‘We’ve seen a few very positive things. For example, coming back after going 1-0 down. It’s a thing we did last season a lot of times, seeing players from the bench impacting the game.
‘More than a few times, there were very good moments in build-up, but what I also saw in the goal we conceded and in the first half, a big chance we conceded, is that we had to work harder in those moments and that also happened against AC Milan.
‘It could be to do with the tough training camp, it could be to do with the heat. But that’s something we definitely have to improve towards Bilbao, who we have as our next opponent.’
While being immensely proud of Liverpool’s success last season, Slot’s ‘full focus’ is now on the upcoming campaign.
‘I had quite a long holiday and because we won the league quite early I could enjoy it for quite a long time,’ the Dutchman continied.
‘But I think the moment we started again, that was also the moment stop thinking about last season.
‘You guys can still enjoy it, but we now need to prepare ourselves for the upcoming season and, therefore, there are no moments to enjoy what we did last season.
‘Our full focus is now on this season and how I and we prepare for another tough season.
‘Last season was already tough, but if you look at what all the Premier League clubs are doing, the Premier League is going to get even stronger than last season.
‘We need to be ready for that, that’s what my full focus is on at the moment and over the last few weeks.
‘We are making steps forward but I also don’t forget that I went to Wembley last season and had to look at Newcastle winning a trophy and in two weeks we go there again so I hope we show a different face in that final than we did in the Carabao Cup final.’
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