Liverpool 2-0 Fulham: Rio Ngumoha is the “superstar” to step into Mo Salah’s shoes as Arne Slot finds Premier League relief

Written by David Lynch, Liverpool expert:

When attempts are made to rationalise this difficult Liverpool season, the word ‘transition’ often comes up.

The thing with transition seasons is, you have to show signs that change is indeed afoot, and that the team is moving towards a new, cohesive iteration.

Unfortunately for the Reds, there have been few such indications of a bright future ahead, with the defeats and poor performances starting early and continuing into the latter part of the campaign.

That is until today, when Fulham were swept aside by Liverpool side that offered genuine reasons for supporters to hope better days are coming.

Chief among them was the performance of 17-year-old Rio Ngumoha, who confirmed the growing suspicion that he is a superstar in waiting.

His dribbling skills were already well-known to supporters who have watched his early forays into the first team, largely in the domestic cups.

Here he showed he has started to add new tricks, including the beautiful curler he arrowed into the far corner with little backlift to open the scoring.

Liverpool 2-0 Fulham: Rio Ngumoha’s “torch-passing moment” with Mo Salah

Ngumoha followed up his goal with what felt like torch-passing moment, playing a key role in Mohamed Salah adding a second, showing that he is a capable creator as well as scorer.

Salah’s decline and the struggles of Cody Gakpo this term has made it feel like this Liverpool team is operating at times without sufficient quality in wide areas.

However, Ngumoha looks ready to ensure that won’t be the case in the years ahead, such is the scale of his promise.

For Arne Slot to convince supporters that he is the man to oversee Liverpool’s move into a new era without Salah and potentially spearheaded by Ngumoha, he desperately needs more showings like this between now and May.

However, this was a good start and something to build on after a three-game run of defeats that suggested the Dutchman’s race was run.