{"id":6999,"date":"2026-05-11T02:38:48","date_gmt":"2026-05-11T02:38:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/?p=6999"},"modified":"2026-05-11T02:38:48","modified_gmt":"2026-05-11T02:38:48","slug":"arne-slot-says-rio-ngumoha-had-cramp-after-liverpool-starlets-substitution-is-booed-liverpool","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/?p=6999","title":{"rendered":"Arne Slot says Rio Ngumoha had cramp after Liverpool starlet\u2019s substitution is booed | Liverpool"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Arne Slot said he understood the boos that greeted Liverpool\u2019s draw with Chelsea and his decision to substitute Rio Ngumoha but remains \u201c100% convinced\u201d he can win back the Anfield crowd next season.<\/p>\n

Anfield\u2019s frustrations at an underwhelming season came to the surface as Liverpool were held 1-1 by a Chelsea team that had lost six Premier League matches in a row and conceded 11 goals in their three previous away games.<\/p>\n

Ryan Gravenberch, who opened the scoring with his first league goal of 2026, claimed the criticism \u2013 some of which was aired during the first half \u2013 was unfair. \u201cOK, we didn\u2019t win, but I don\u2019t really think we deserved this,\u201d said Gravenberch of the fans\u2019 reaction. \u201cWe need them. Hopefully they wouldn\u2019t do it again in the next two games.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Slot accepted the criticism after another disappointing result but was adamant he could regain the trust of Liverpool supporters with a new-look team next season. The head coach, asked whether he believed he can get the match-going fans back onside, replied: \u201cYes I do. Not this season, this season the fans will have their opinion and it will not change. But if we can have the summer that we are planning then I am 100% convinced we will be a different team next season. Different in terms of results and different in how things look. For me, it is really clear what we are lacking this season and we are trying (to fix it).\u201d<\/p>\n

Slot\u2019s decision to replace Ngumoha with Alexander Isak, while Cody Gakpo had been anonymous, was met with a chorus of disapproval in the 67th minute. There were more boos on the final whistle.<\/p>\n

<\/svg><\/span>Rio Ngumoha looks to take on Chelsea\u2019s Cole Palmer. The 17-year-old provided the assist for Liverpool\u2019s goal.<\/span> Photograph: Gaspafotos\/MB Media\/Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The coach said of the 17-year-old: \u201cRio had cramps before then when he went to the floor. Then I had contact with him and he said that was enough, that\u2019s why I took him off. It makes complete sense (the boos) if you take off a player who is playing well and had assisted. It wasn\u2019t my intention to take him off but he is not at the level yet where he can play at 50\/60% and make a difference. He wasn\u2019t fit enough to sprint.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI knew the moment his number went up that would be the reaction but that is not the reason. After the game, I think it (the boos) also makes sense because this club should not be happy with a 1-1 against Chelsea. We always aim for a win and if we don\u2019t win we are disappointed, especially in a season when we have not won as much as people expect. It is frustration building up and that came out probably after half-time. The players and myself feel the same way.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Arne Slot said he understood the boos that greeted Liverpool\u2019s draw with Chelsea and his…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7000,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6999","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chelsea"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6999","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6999"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6999\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7000"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6999"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6999"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6999"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}