Praise from Klopp
He had to give Andy Robertson a lot of time, says Jürgen Klopp. He once even changed his system for Fabinho, and Wataru Endo also needed a longer start-up. But now the former Stuttgart player seems to have finally arrived at the Reds. His strong performances again received praise from the German coach.
“I liked his game,” said Klopp after Liverpool’s 2-0 Boxing Day win at Burnley FC on Tuesday evening. “It’s a bit of a shame that he’s going to the Asian Championships now that he’s got his footing. But that’s ok. What a boy, what a player. Very important.” After the 5-1 win in the EFL Cup quarter-finals against West Ham, the coach highlighted the Japanese’s form and warned that new players had to be given time. Even the greatest like Robertson or Fabinho would have needed that.
Endo didn’t have to wait long for his chance. In his second league game for Liverpool, the 20 million euro purchase from Stuttgart was in the starting line-up. After that, more than two months passed before the 55-time national player was once again granted a chance, at least in the championship. In the meantime, he played in the Europa League, even scoring there for the first time, and at the beginning of December he also scored his first goal in the Premier League after coming on as a late substitute in a 2-3 draw against Fulham. Final score 4:3. Since then, Endo has started every competitive game.
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“You need a little time, that’s all. We see him every day in training and he is one of the hardest-working people I have ever met,” Klopp said recently. “It was always clear that it would be good, but of course I’m happy for him that everyone can see it now, because that helps us a lot in our work.” Endo gives the team something that no one else has. “He’s the one for the tackles,” said Klopp. Otherwise, he doesn’t have many players left on the team who have “tackling as a hobby”. “On top of that, his passing is really good, his awareness is really good, he finds his position better now in possession, everything like that,” Klopp listed. After the win against Burnley, he also emphasized that the patience was worth it: Now we can see how good he is. I am very pleased.”
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