Slot praises performance of Liverpool stand-in centre-back | OneFootball

Arne Slot has praised the performance of Wataru Endo after the Liverpool midfielder shone at centre-back in the club’s 2-1 win at Southampton.

Liverpool progressed into the semi-finals of the Carabao Cup with a hard-fought win at St Mary’s, as a rotated Reds team continued the club’s defence of the trophy.

Darwin Nunez and Harvey Elliott were on target for the Merseysiders, before Cameron Archer issued a response for the Saints. Liverpool were forced to withstand significant second-half pressure from the hosts and Slot singled out Endo for praise.

The Japan international has struggled for regular first-team football this season but excelled in an unfamiliar centre-back role alongside Jarell Quansah. He made four tackles and won 100% of his ground duels (8/8), alongside three aerial battles.

One incident saw the 31-year-old leap above 6ft 7in Southampton striker Paul Onauchu to win a duel. Slot said Endo’s performance demonstrated the ‘mentality and quality’ of the player.

Speaking at his post-match press conference, Slot said: “If I have to give someone a big compliment it should be Wata Endo because in a different position playing such a good game in these circumstances, that shows you what a quality player he is, but mainly maybe what kind of mentality and personality he has.”

Slot also discussed the performance of Federico Chiesa, who made his return from injury off the bench. The Italian looked lively in moments, but Slot said it will take time for Chiesa to find his best level.

“I don’t know if we saw it the same, but I think what I saw is what you can expect. If a player is out for five or six months you cannot expect [too much]. I saw ups and downs. I saw some really good moments and I saw some moments where I felt like, ‘OK, you can do better than this.’ For me, that’s completely normal if a player has been out for so long and plays his first game in five or six months.

“I already said before that it makes it so difficult for me because normally in the pre-season a player gets three, four or five games especially and then he’s only out for four or five weeks. Instead, he was out for so long, so to get him back to his best level is not easy, but it was good to see that he showed some quality already today. But it’s the same for him like the youngsters, it’s not enough to play at this level, you have to compete with Mo Salah, Cody Gakpo, Lucho [Luis Diaz], Darwin and Diogo [Jota]. But it’s good to see that he’s back and that he had a few good moments in the game. ”

Read – The Football Faithful’s Advent Calendar: December 19th

See more – Remembering December 2006’s Goal of the Month competition

Follow The Football Faithful on Social Media:

Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | YouTube | TikTok