Thread by @CounterPressers

Despite only being 16 years of age, Rio Ngumoha has been breathtaking during his displays for Liverpool’s senior team.

He is already at a level where he can meaningfully contribute for Liverpool over a 50+ game campaign.

THREAD🧵.

Rio Ngumoha has been Liverpool’s most exciting performer in their 4 pre-season games.

Handed 185 minutes by Arne Slot, Rio has managed to consistently show excellent glimpses of what he can bring, whilst averaging a goal contribution every 45 minutes.

Ngumoha is at his most dangerous when he is driving with speed at his opponents.

This is where he comes into his own and is able to use his unique skill-set to really hurt opponents. But what makes Rio such a special dribbler you may ask?

There a variety of elements of Ngumoha’s dribbling game that makes him such a difficult player to stop:

- the nature of his dribbling
- his multidirectional threat
- his physical profile
- decision-making & game IQ

When Ngumoha dribbles at his opponent, his ultimate goal is to disrupt & unsettle his opponent.

He does this by utilising lots of twitchy body movements/exaggerated gestures & top footwork.

Look at all the micro-movements to unnerve his marker - chops, step-overs, feints.

With a player like Ngumoha who can go left or go right, they are almost impossible to stop.

If their opponent does not have an instinct upon which direction they will travel, then how can they be expected to stop them.

But what empowers the nature of Ngumoha’s dribbling? His compositional makeup.

At 16 years of age, the levels of balance, coordination and athleticism that he displays are freakish.

Incredibly difficult to unsettle, at one with his limbs and accelerates/decelerates with ease.

The overarching element that brings all of these skills to create 1 game-breaking quality is his IQ & decision-making.

Rio understands the gravity of his presence and how he creates spaces for his teammates to exploit. He doesn’t think he is a 1 man army.

He often commits 1 or 2 men before immediately playing it to a teammate to afford them more time & space to perform their action.

With his 2 goals, Ngumoha has demonstrated some really encouraging elements to his shooting game which reveal potential consistent scalable output throughout his senior career.

Despite their similar conditions, these are 2 incredibly different goals & subsequently finishes.

For his ⚽️ vs Yokohama FM:

- locking that planted foot nice and early
- getting his body right over the ball
- head down for controlled finish

For his ⚽️ vs Athletic Club:

- lift-off for lift-off
- opening the body and hips up to place it
- left arm to guide it and generate power/momentum

Shooting mechanics & fundamentals provide insight into a player’s potential ability to consistently score goal.

Step count or steps vs shot provide a scalable framework for understanding how quickly a player can get a shot off.

When you are not afforded as much space and time, can you perform your action?

In Rio Ngumoha’s case, this is very promising and leads me to believe he is an individual that will score goals throughout his career.

For his ⚽️ vs Yokohama FM:

- 3 steps from deciding to take the shot to taking shot

For his ⚽️ vs Athletic Club:

- 3 shots from deciding to take the shot to taking shot

With those small feet of his, he can cut this down to 2 and become a small-space killer; the potential is there.

A repeatable pattern that I have noticed is he always looks for those ‘toco y me voys’ with his teammates.

It’s a testament to his self-belief and high levels of activity on the ball; following his momentum to create possible passing angles/combinations for his teammates.

It’s hard not to see shades of Rio Ngumoha when watching a very young Kylian Mbappe.

The chopping of the hips. The effortless step-overs. The legginess of each movement.

At 16 years of age, Rio Ngumoha is ready to contribute meaningfully for Liverpool’s senior men’s side during the 2025/26 campaign.

But what should this look/feel like to prioritise Rio’s steady development?

At his current level, he would be an excellent profile to bring off the bench in PL/UCL games vs tired legs

Let him drive fresh at fatigued opponents. Create space for teammates and chaos to exploit.

Regardless of the opponent’s quality, he should be the first choice LW for all Carabao cup games.

Giving him potentially 5 x 90 minute displays against all varieties of teams & physical levels will do him a world of good acclimating to senior men’s football.

Obviously, he is only 16 years old and will need to be carefully managed and eased into men’s football.

But he has earned his recognition and appreciation from Arne Slot because his performances surpass the usual standards of a 16 year old footballer.

He’s ready…

End of thread! Any likes, comments & shares are greatly appreciated!