Liverpool boss Andoni Iraola has urged Rio Ngumoha not to be distracted by the outside noise following his impressive performance against Villarreal.
Ngumoha was the Reds’ standout performer on Tuesday night as they came from 2-0 down to beat the Spanish side 4-3 in the Champions League at Anfield.
The England international admitted after the match that it was “one of his best” displays for the club but Iraola has stressed the importance of his players not getting caught up in any external attention.
“I think every player has to focus on performances, on keeping doing well and improve the things he can improve,” Iraola said in a news conference on Friday.
“The outside noise, when it’s good, when it’s bad I think it affects — obviously — but we have to not be affected by those things.
“You continue to do your job, as good as you can, try to improve the things you can improve and don’t be too affected from the things you can hear.
“When you do well they are going to praise you, when you do bad they are going to be critics but don’t let those things affect too much the performance, which in the end is the most important thing.
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“Not just with Rio, with everyone, it’s about feeling how they are. We change the team a lot because we play every three to four days.
“Sometimes players are tired and there is more risk involved so we have to decide if they need more rest or we use more fresh legs. It will be the same in the coming games.”
Liverpool will return to Premier League action on Sunday when they host high-flying Brighton & Hove Albion.
Bradley Barcola has been passed fit to play after missing team training on Thursday but Iraola could be without some key players against Fabian Hurzeler’s side.
“Bradley has trained today as normal,” Iraola said. “No problem, it was just a matter of sometimes we just have to deal with the workloads but he is fine.
“Victor [Munoz] had a knock in the first half against Brentford. He could finish the game very well but he is dealing with some pain since then. It was too early against Villarreal and I think it’s going to be difficult [to play against Brighton] but I don’t know.
“Dom [Szoboszlai] is going to be out this weekend. I don’t think he’s far but he hasn’t trained with the group still and also considering that [against Brentford] we started him and he had to go out, we will probably take one or two days more than we would last week.
“He’s in a good place. Dom is already training outside alone and he’s going to train with the group but he’s not ready for this one.”
