Steven Gerrard urged Liverpool manager Arne Slot to drop one player to the bench after a poor showing in their away defeat to bottom-placed Wolverhampton.
Steven Gerrard, former Liverpool captain and midfielder, called on Arne Slot to bench Dutch winger Cody Gakpo and start 17-year-old Rio Ngoumou in Friday's FA Cup match following Gakpo's disappointing performance in Liverpool's 1-2 Premier League loss at Wolverhampton last night.
In that match, Gakpo started on the left wing but failed to pose enough threat to the opposition before being substituted off in the 65th minute for Rio Ngoumou.
Gerrard observed that overall Ngoumou performed clearly better despite limited time on the pitch and deserves a starting role in the upcoming FA Cup rematch against Wolverhampton this Friday.
Gerrard stated, “For the first 65 minutes, Liverpool played very poorly. They didn’t create enough chances, lacked speed and proper tempo, and didn’t show sufficient quality.”
“Arne Slot must start Ngoumou because when he came on, he performed better than Gakpo did in the 65 to 70 minutes before, even though it was a short period.”
“I want to emphasize again, he deserves to start. Slot must put this young player in the starting lineup on Friday night.”