Arne Slot has explained why he continues to overlook Wataru Endo for a place in Liverpool’s starting XI, despite the Japan international being the only recognised defensive midfielder in the squad.
Endo has played just 36 minutes in the Premier League this season across four substitute appearances, with his only starts coming in the League Cup.
With Liverpool’s midfield issues contributing to the concession of 10 goals in their last three matches, supporters have called for Endo to play a more prominent role.
He has made only one brief league appearance since August.
Slot, however, believes Ryan Gravenberch’s form has left little reason to turn to the 32-year-old at this stage.
When quizzed about the lack of opportunities for Endo, Slot said: “I prefer not to talk about individuals but since you ask, he is in the position Ryan is in. Ryan is not performing the worst from all of our players.
“That is Ryan’s best position and the same as Wata. When I used him as a right-back against Bournemouth I got criticised, I got told I got criticised.
“Ryan is one of the few who has been fit throughout the whole season. That is the answer.”
Joe Gomez is another player who has struggled for minutes this season, despite being capable of providing cover at centre-back and right-back, two positions affected by injuries.
Slot opted not to risk Gomez from the bench over the last week after the defender received an injection in his knee, but the 28-year-old is a strong contender to start at the London Stadium this weekend.
The Reds boss said: “I think we have played a lot of different line-ups for reasons I prefer not to do because everyone was not available.
“We have used our whole squad constantly without Wata and Joe.”
“Now is a new experience,” said Slot, regarding Liverpool’s poor run of nine defeats in 12 games.
“I always find it hard to learn from things, this must not sound wrong, but next time there will be different players or clubs involved. I never think, ‘Oh three years ago I lost one game and did that meeting and used that tactic so let me use this again now…’.
“That is not how it works. There are so many things that go into it. There is no specific thing I would do differently in a few years.
“Because I don’t know which team I have to work with. It is clear and obvious that not all the decisions we made were excellent. Maybe to start with, not playing Wata…!”
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