First Name: Wataru
Surname: Endo
Squad Number: 3
Position: Midfielder
D.O.B: 09.02.1993.
Town of Birth: Yokohama
Country of Birth: Japan
Nationality: Japanese
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Play him more often then!
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He didn’t say he was better quality than the 4 ahead of him though
Maybe he’s bigging him up for a Jan sale.
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It was a little tongue-in-cheek, but really, he should be used as a part of the rotation, even if it’s a small part. It’s a long season ahead. What’s the maximum now, 64 games?
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That wasn’t lost on me BTW 
He’ll be gone if Zubi or another comes in.
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Put Endo in that Southampton side, and there is no way they would get relegated this season.
With a bit of luck, Arne watching his performance from his aerial view in the stands, might just mean he appreciates the ethic and endeavour of the guy a tad more… We will soon see, if he starts to get more minutes
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Class act. Always has been.
He’s absolutely top drawer being combative and getting between man and ball. The last action of the game sums him up, willing to engage in duels even if it’s someone who’s 87 feet tall.
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Nah, they’re too shite as a group and he’s not that special to make such a difference.
He deserves praise for his performance (doing a job at CB and stepping into midfield) last night, but also Slot has been constantly praising (and over-praising) players who are mostly backups, won’t play much, but especially if they are hard workers, professionals, not moaning, etc. Which Endo looks like he genuinely is.
It’s nothing special, managers generally do that, more or less.
If some fans want to count how many times Slot said words “Endo” and “quality”, that’s another battle in their minds trying to prove… whatever.
In the end, minutes prove what Slot thinks of Endo in the context of Liverpool, not praises at press conferences. If he plays a bit more as the season progresses and plays a bit better, great.
I don’t think he’ll be here past next summer.
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I don’t agree with you on this.
To me, the way Endo is used reflects 1) both the manager’s trust in him and 2) his limited fit for Slot’s Plan A / B. But that doesn’t mean he is not important.
As soon as Slot feels his Plan A / B is failing and the team is losing control in midfield, I often expect to see Endo come on to help close out the game and often he does.
We need Plan C players and I genuinely think Slot knows that. He was the trusted Plan C CB against Southampton from the start… not just after Liverpool was ahead.
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If you check out his stats, he usually comes on in stoppage time.
I think that he’s under-utilised, but Slot clearly doesn’t see him as a viable starter or rotational player.
I disagree with the manager, and Zoran, on Endo’s merits but the stats speak for themselves.
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Well, you can say he’s important as he’s part of our first team squad and was kept last summer (especially as we failed to bring Zubimendi).
But we see how much he plays (or doesn’t play). Slot will naturally say that they’re all important to us, but some are much more.
It wasn’t a surprise seeing him starting against Southampton.
Whether he manages to earn more minutes in the coming weeks and months remains to be seen, that is without possible injuries in account, when he would have to play more.
I thought he could’ve come on against Newcastle, but it’s clear that the manager doesn’t rate him too much.
It’s not like we have a million double pivot midfielders, plus Slot himself is saying how we need to protect Gravenberch sometimes as he’s playing a lot of football. We have 4 main players for those two positions, out of which Endo is one. It’s not like Elliott is a genuine contender for that zone.
It’s not the same case at LW for example, where it’s clear that he rates both Diaz and Gakpo. That’s also part of the reason why we rotate them more.
All you can ask from Endo is to be professional and work hard, which he is.
If he’s not of Liverpool’s level, it’s no shame. He got a great chance at the end of his career and will play a few more years somewhere on a more suitable level for him.
I thought Endo had a good game today and helped us control the game when he came on.
He hasn’t let us down in any game this season and deserves more rotation to give the likes of Grav a rest
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Shame that Slot dont rate him. Weve started leaking goals and this guy is decent enough to get the last 25 to tighten up .
Maybe Slot wants him for the defence.
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Gotta say he was excellent at CB, even with his lack of pace, when he came on, it calmed us down and helped us control the game.
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