{"id":34115,"date":"2026-05-09T16:55:17","date_gmt":"2026-05-09T14:55:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/?post_type=news&#038;p=34115"},"modified":"2026-05-09T16:55:17","modified_gmt":"2026-05-09T14:55:17","slug":"slot-explains-ngumoha-substitution-after-furious-fan-reaction","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/slot-explains-ngumoha-substitution-after-furious-fan-reaction\/","title":{"rendered":"Slot explains Ngumoha substitution after furious fan reaction"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>Liverpool manager Arne Slot played down the furious Anfield reaction to his substitution of teenager Rio Ngumoha in Saturday\u2019s 1-1 Premier League \u200bdraw with Chelsea, saying the 17-year-old was having injury issues and \u200cneeded to be replaced.<\/div>\n<div>\nNgumoha was one of Liverpool\u2019s brightest sparks on an otherwise frustrating afternoon on Merseyside, with fans also booing at the final whistle as Liverpool failed to \u200bwin again.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Ngumoha was replaced on 67 minutes by Alexander Isak, leading \u200bto an angry reaction from fans.<\/div>\n<div>&#8220;There were a lot that didn&#8217;t \u2060agree with the change, which is completely understandable,\u201d Slot told TNT Sports. &#8220;He \u200bwas having problems with his muscles and when I asked him, he said \u200bhe was not sure he could continue.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>&#8220;I knew this would be the reaction because he is such a good player. So often in football, people don&#8217;t know everything. I \u200bam the manager and I need to make decisions. Knowing why means \u200bit make more sense for people.&#8221;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Liverpool might have been 2-0 up before Chelsea grew into \u200cthe \u2060game as the home side conceded from a set-piece for the 18th time this season, second only to Bournemouth (19).<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>&#8220;We started off really well and got a big chance from a set-piece which was close to making it 2-0,&#8221; \u200bSlot said. &#8220;Unfortunately, like last \u200bweek (at Manchester United), \u2060we conceded from a set piece. It was such a sloppy goal.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>&#8220;The second half I saw a completely different \u200bintensity. We went close a few times. Like so \u200bmany times \u2060this season, we hit the post and bar. We were not able to control their players. They played with a lot of midfielders today.&#8221;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>There were more boos \u2060at \u200bfulltime as Liverpool failed to find a winner.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>&#8220;That&#8217;s \u200bprobably got something to do with us not winning. It completely makes sense, people are disappointed \u200bif Liverpool don&#8217;t win,&#8221; Slot said.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>&#8211;Reuters&#8211;<\/div>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":23499,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-type":[20],"class_list":["post-34115","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-sport","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"There were more boos \u2060at \u200bfulltime as Liverpool failed to find a winner.","published_date":"","news_description":"There were more boos \u2060at \u200bfulltime as Liverpool failed to find a winner.","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/34115","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/34115\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34116,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/34115\/revisions\/34116"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23499"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34115"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=34115"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}