Japan are pretty much nailed on to reach the final. Shame they can be parachuted into a later stage. Six pointless games and then the final
Its 3 group games, Ro16, QF, SF, F
Hopefully he can be rested until the QF at least
Liverpool, Wataru upto?
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Its 3 group games, Ro16, QF, SF, F
Hopefully he can be rested until the QF at least
2000/01 season?
Ok - you caught me out, I mean the 'near' quad season !!! - hope you feel so much better now @tombrown - oh those memories of nearly winning the league and UCL,
From EPL's official website: How Endo has become Liverpool's midfield linchpin
[article]Providing cover for Trent
Trent Alexander-Arnold’s passing range from central areas has become an increasingly important facet of Liverpool’s attacking play.
Without his accurate long passes and through-balls they would not create as many chances, so he will continue to drift inside when the Reds have possession.
Endo is superb at covering any space Alexander-Arnold leaves.
With the other two members of Liverpool’s midfield unit often pushed high, it has been noticeable how quick Endo is to slide across and offer defensive cover on the right-hand side when moves break down.
This defensive chalkboard from his appearance against Burnley outlines the type of work he has offered in recent weeks.
As an experienced performer, his awareness and game intelligence is excellent.
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Forcing transitions
While most of Endo’s best work is done at the base of midfield as he picks up loose balls and recycles possession with efficiency, he can also be more proactive when the need arises.
We saw this in the 1-1 draw against Arsenal when he twice forced turnovers that led to half-chances for his Liverpool team-mates.
(refer to article link for screenshots of situations)
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[article]
Endo enjoys this and has a good enough engine to ensure the unit have enough athleticism too.
While he can’t quite match the youthful legs of Harvey Elliott or Jones, the ex-Stuttgart midfielder still covers a lot of ground, averaging 12.17km per 90 minutes.
Endo also moves around at a decent tempo, averaging 6.91km/h when he is on the field of play, a tally that can only be beaten by Jones.
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Been saying it all season, play a DM at DM every game and other midfielders in the other slots. We are significantly better with Endo at DM than with Alexis there. Not because Endo a better *player* but because Endo is a better DM.
I already hate the idea we might replace him next summer. He could be an absolute cult hero for us as a reliable DM for 2-3 seasons whilst we fix other areas, and grow one of our youth players into that role.
I already hate the idea we might replace him next summer. He could be an absolute cult hero for us as a reliable DM for 2-3 seasons whilst we fix other areas, and grow one of our youth players into that role.
The stats (Mac vs Endo) don't support that TBH.
Like I said in the half-season review thread, we’ve definitely found some new defensive solidity in the last few weeks, which neatly coincided with Endo starting all those games; the games are less see-saw, more controlled on our part. Will we lose it when MacAllister replaces Endo in January and go back to the more chaotic style? I don’t think so, but it will be interesting to see.
I don't like Macca at DM.
He's not a specialist and he gives away silly fouls, especially when up against quick, pacy players. He keeps saying his best position is AM - ok so give him a run there then.
The verdict's still out on Macca and Gravvy. Tbh, I still dont know what they bring to the table. Imo, they're a 7 at best. Not your weekly 8-9s.
He's not a specialist and he gives away silly fouls, especially when up against quick, pacy players. He keeps saying his best position is AM - ok so give him a run there then.
The verdict's still out on Macca and Gravvy. Tbh, I still dont know what they bring to the table. Imo, they're a 7 at best. Not your weekly 8-9s.
He doesn’t rely on blistering pace or strength so he should be able to be useful for 2/3 seasons.
no doubt he's going to be a loss but we are getting Mac back refreshed and ready at just the right time, potentially Thiago too in a fortnight. Japan are favourites to go all tye way so it's likely we won't see him in red again til mid Feb. What a boost it would be to have Mo and Endo coming back to get us over the line for the final stretch.
As long as we can keep on winning without them. Mac will offer us more than Endo when it comes to the build up of our attacking play, but will also offer less interceptions and cover for our defence. Hope he can have a better second half to our season, because when his passing is not quite right, he offers very little to the team. I still have high hopes for Thiago making a difference when he returns. If he can stay fit till Endo returns, his presence will have been worth it, such is his quality.
I think stats can be misleading in this case. We often see a gaping hole in the middle, with defenders exposed, when Mac is starting furthest back.Again I think it needs pointing out that Mac's defensive stats are actually exceptional - it isn't a step down from Endo but it is something different.
As of 30th Dec.
A bit of an old stat but still interesting ... 8th Nov.
@Frogfish , but I think most people will feel that we play better when Endo is the 6, and have more control and limit the opposition chances. For me Endo proved himself against Arsenal he was brilliant in that game, and if his name was Caicedo or Cuntinho or something, or he cost us 100M then the media and somenof us fans would be saying we got a great deal for 100M. But because he like...16M only, we seem embarrassed to even state or call out what we witnessed. He is the guy that Klopp wants from a DM, not a destroyer type but a baller type DM that is composed on the ball.
I don't think they are misleading but, as I said, they are different in that each excels in different areas of defence.
No Mo Salah is a blow but Liverpool will also miss the calm Wataru Endo... the £16m Japanese star has gone from a consolation prize to a key cog in Jurgen Klopp's Premier League table-toppers
[article]The best compliment that Wataru Endo could receive, and there are many, is that nobody is talking about his age any more. Another plaudit is that nobody at Liverpool is talking about Moises Caicedo or Romeo Lavia any more either.
After failed pursuits for the aforementioned defensive midfield duo, signing Endo, a 30-year-old who was playing for mid-table Bundesliga side Stuttgart, was seen as an underwhelming quick fix. Many football fans criticised the transfer for a lack of ambition.
And noting Liverpool were willing to break the British transfer record to sign Caicedo from Brighton, those arguments could be justified in some ways. Missing out on the Ecuadorian felt like a big blow. But given many high-profile exits in midfield, Klopp and Co needed to act and Endo was the man they pursued.
Yes, he is 30 and isn’t the sort of signing that can transform a team for the best part of a decade like Virgil van Dijk or Alisson but, at £16.2million, Endo looks like one of the bargains of the summer in European football.
Honestly speaking, how many Liverpool fans could say they had heard of Endo before this summer? The answer is probably less than one or two per cent. Four or so months on, he is being serenaded by the Kop and talked about as a seismic loss in the next month.
Alexis Mac Allister can play the No 6 role and has timed his recovery from an impact injury on the knee perfectly, with Endo now jetting off to the Asia Cup. But the Japan captain will be sorely missed while he is away in the host city of… you guessed it - Qatar.
Japan always do well at the Asia Cup so Liverpool will not pencil in Endo’s return until mid-February at least, meaning he misses some crunch league games including a trip to Arsenal - they also play there in the FA Cup on Sunday - and the Carabao Cup semi-finals.
His departure has not made the headlines that Mohamed Salah’s exit to play for Egypt in the Africa Cup of Nations in the Ivory Coast, a move that has already been debated and dissected for months as a potential turning point in the title race.
But the void left behind by Endo - or ‘Leg-Endo’, presumably a play on ‘legend’, as he was called in Stuttgart - will be felt by Jurgen Klopp’s men. Of course, Klopp and transfer guru Jorg Schmadtke, plus FSG’s Mike Gordon are not surprised at all by Endo’s rise.
The manager’s phone was buzzing with text messages the day after Endo’s signing was first mooted, with former colleagues in Germany - from time at Mainz and Borussia Dortmund - singing his praises.
‘If it's true, this is a genius strike, I have asked to sign him for years,’ said one message from a former Dortmund hero. Klopp told the Liverpool website that day: ‘It was a very positive thing in Germany - he's super-highly respected. He is really happy to join us, which is nice as well.’
After another fine performance against Newcastle on Monday, Van Dijk said: ‘We know he has the ability to be playing at the highest level and he's shown that the last couple of weeks. He’s made the next step and that goes with confidence - he's a human being and confidence helps.
‘He's a very solid six. And I think in modern-day football all the top teams have a very important six and it's one of the most underrated roles on the pitch and you have to get someone there to protect and to also be the link to the front. He's stepped up and we're going to miss him.’
Glowing references from past and present, not that he needs them. His numbers do the talking. During his time in the Bundesliga, he ranked highest for most balls won in the defensive third (254), most aerial duels won (219), most clearances (175) and most headed clearances (105).
Klopp said recently that Endo has a trait that no one else in Liverpool’s midfield possesses, which is the simple - and sometimes lost - art of tackling. But he is much more than a midfield enforcer and Endo always looks to break lines with passes and is calm when pressured.
He is nicknamed the ‘Duel King’ in Japan for those stats and he has even written a book, Duel, and set up a video platform where he analyses his own performances and offers evaluation for young footballers. It also includes advice for parents.
There are many fascinating tangents in the book - Endo says Arsenal’s Takehiro Tomiyasu, a Japan team-mate, often gives up certain foods when he gets injured for superstitious reasons - but overall it shows his studious nature and analytical brain which has been crucial to Liverpool.
He is a growing voice in the dressing room and is always spotted encouraging team-mates in pre-match warm-ups or during games. And he also feels at home in Liverpool, especially noting his childhood love for The Beatles. His family, including four kids, recently joined him in England.
Endo has always needed to prove himself, from starting in Japan’s second tier after rejections from J League clubs, working his way to Europe with Belgian minnows Sint-Truden and being signed originally as a squad player at Stuttgart, then in Bundesliga 2.
Even when he signed for Liverpool, Klopp was forced to work hard to convince the owners, who ultimately sanction any transfer, to deviate from the usual recruitment strategy of signing young players and instead splash out on a 30-year-old.
But as Klopp said, Endo is a ‘late bloomer’ who is not showing any signs of ageing yet. The loss of Salah’s goals will be the headline absence from Liverpool’s side in January, but Endo’s exit will be felt just as heavily. And has anyone checked how Caicedo is getting on at Chelsea?[/article]
[article]The best compliment that Wataru Endo could receive, and there are many, is that nobody is talking about his age any more. Another plaudit is that nobody at Liverpool is talking about Moises Caicedo or Romeo Lavia any more either.
After failed pursuits for the aforementioned defensive midfield duo, signing Endo, a 30-year-old who was playing for mid-table Bundesliga side Stuttgart, was seen as an underwhelming quick fix. Many football fans criticised the transfer for a lack of ambition.
And noting Liverpool were willing to break the British transfer record to sign Caicedo from Brighton, those arguments could be justified in some ways. Missing out on the Ecuadorian felt like a big blow. But given many high-profile exits in midfield, Klopp and Co needed to act and Endo was the man they pursued.
Yes, he is 30 and isn’t the sort of signing that can transform a team for the best part of a decade like Virgil van Dijk or Alisson but, at £16.2million, Endo looks like one of the bargains of the summer in European football.
Honestly speaking, how many Liverpool fans could say they had heard of Endo before this summer? The answer is probably less than one or two per cent. Four or so months on, he is being serenaded by the Kop and talked about as a seismic loss in the next month.
Alexis Mac Allister can play the No 6 role and has timed his recovery from an impact injury on the knee perfectly, with Endo now jetting off to the Asia Cup. But the Japan captain will be sorely missed while he is away in the host city of… you guessed it - Qatar.
Japan always do well at the Asia Cup so Liverpool will not pencil in Endo’s return until mid-February at least, meaning he misses some crunch league games including a trip to Arsenal - they also play there in the FA Cup on Sunday - and the Carabao Cup semi-finals.
His departure has not made the headlines that Mohamed Salah’s exit to play for Egypt in the Africa Cup of Nations in the Ivory Coast, a move that has already been debated and dissected for months as a potential turning point in the title race.
But the void left behind by Endo - or ‘Leg-Endo’, presumably a play on ‘legend’, as he was called in Stuttgart - will be felt by Jurgen Klopp’s men. Of course, Klopp and transfer guru Jorg Schmadtke, plus FSG’s Mike Gordon are not surprised at all by Endo’s rise.
The manager’s phone was buzzing with text messages the day after Endo’s signing was first mooted, with former colleagues in Germany - from time at Mainz and Borussia Dortmund - singing his praises.
‘If it's true, this is a genius strike, I have asked to sign him for years,’ said one message from a former Dortmund hero. Klopp told the Liverpool website that day: ‘It was a very positive thing in Germany - he's super-highly respected. He is really happy to join us, which is nice as well.’
After another fine performance against Newcastle on Monday, Van Dijk said: ‘We know he has the ability to be playing at the highest level and he's shown that the last couple of weeks. He’s made the next step and that goes with confidence - he's a human being and confidence helps.
‘He's a very solid six. And I think in modern-day football all the top teams have a very important six and it's one of the most underrated roles on the pitch and you have to get someone there to protect and to also be the link to the front. He's stepped up and we're going to miss him.’
Glowing references from past and present, not that he needs them. His numbers do the talking. During his time in the Bundesliga, he ranked highest for most balls won in the defensive third (254), most aerial duels won (219), most clearances (175) and most headed clearances (105).
Klopp said recently that Endo has a trait that no one else in Liverpool’s midfield possesses, which is the simple - and sometimes lost - art of tackling. But he is much more than a midfield enforcer and Endo always looks to break lines with passes and is calm when pressured.
He is nicknamed the ‘Duel King’ in Japan for those stats and he has even written a book, Duel, and set up a video platform where he analyses his own performances and offers evaluation for young footballers. It also includes advice for parents.
There are many fascinating tangents in the book - Endo says Arsenal’s Takehiro Tomiyasu, a Japan team-mate, often gives up certain foods when he gets injured for superstitious reasons - but overall it shows his studious nature and analytical brain which has been crucial to Liverpool.
He is a growing voice in the dressing room and is always spotted encouraging team-mates in pre-match warm-ups or during games. And he also feels at home in Liverpool, especially noting his childhood love for The Beatles. His family, including four kids, recently joined him in England.
Endo has always needed to prove himself, from starting in Japan’s second tier after rejections from J League clubs, working his way to Europe with Belgian minnows Sint-Truden and being signed originally as a squad player at Stuttgart, then in Bundesliga 2.
Even when he signed for Liverpool, Klopp was forced to work hard to convince the owners, who ultimately sanction any transfer, to deviate from the usual recruitment strategy of signing young players and instead splash out on a 30-year-old.
But as Klopp said, Endo is a ‘late bloomer’ who is not showing any signs of ageing yet. The loss of Salah’s goals will be the headline absence from Liverpool’s side in January, but Endo’s exit will be felt just as heavily. And has anyone checked how Caicedo is getting on at Chelsea?[/article]
Good article.
Again I think it needs pointing out that Mac's defensive stats are actually exceptional - it isn't a step down from Endo but it is something different.
As of 30th Dec.
A bit of an old stat but still interesting ... 8th Nov.
His stats are good, but it doesn't show the things you see just by watching us play. He isn't naturally always in the right position when we are without the ball. I'd like to see stats for 'dribbled past' as this happens a lot.
I feel we are misusing his strengths, he is a CM not a DM. Just because he played deeper alongside Caicedo at Brighton doesn't mean he is a DM.
There are times when he will be the better option, e.g. he has space or the opposition leaves gaps (e.g. the opportunity for that pass to Jota in the last game), but the whole midfield unit feels better and more cohesive with him holding.
I'd like to see us trying Endo, Mac & Jones as a midfield trio, that feels it could work very very nicely together.
Benny shared the dribbled past stats before and they weren’t favourable at all for Mac.
He's been a pleasant surprise hasn't he? He seems really likeable, the team clearly trusts him as they are quick to give him the ball when we turn over possession and he knows how to pick a pass. Just a shame he's 30 as we could have done with him much earlier, but he seems pretty fit and is alot more mobile than Fabinho and Henderson were at 30.
He's still got that intensity at 30 years.
Perhaps there's truth in the fact that Jurgenball does take it out of players after a couple of years.
Is it a surprise that the players still with us (VVD, TAA, Salah) were always the least intense players (relatively speaking) when compared to (Hendo, Fab, Gini, Mane, Robbo). All who have lost a lot of their legs as they approach 30.
Anyways, reading back the first few pages of this thread is funny. Endo has proved us all wrong. I actually now believe that Caicedo wouldn't have been the right signing for us. Although I think Lavia might have been (when he gets back to fitness).
Caicedo is not a particular good technical footballer. We need someone/a DM who is able to zip in passes to midfielders/forward (as well as break up play). Endo can do that. Lavia can do it. Caicedo cannot. He does the breaking up play better than the other 2, but technically looks very limited.
Endo has shown, not only great discipline, but also great intelligence/intensity/positioning and the ability to be adept technically. He keeps it simple, but also has the decent long pass in him too. If he had any sort of pace/power, he'd be world class.
You would be mobile and fit when you’ve got 4 kids at 30 !!!
Plus he captains his country too.
What else can he not do ?
Plus he captains his country too.
What else can he not do ?
[article]Wataru Endo’s first start for Liverpool was a difficult task to say the least.
The Japan international had featured for 28 minutes off the bench in the 3-1 win over Bournemouth a week earlier and lined up at St James’ Park for Liverpool’s trip to Newcastle United.
Within half an hour, Endo was part of a team that was 1-0 down and playing with 10 men after captain Virgil van Dijk had been sent off. He didn’t disgrace himself but looked a bit overawed by the speed of the game around him. He was replaced by Harvey Elliott before the hour and watched from the bench as super sub Darwin Núñez rifled in a late brace to turn things around for the visitors.
Just over four months later, Endo started again in the reverse fixture at Anfield. With 11 men on the pitch for the duration, Liverpool dominated Newcastle with Endo looking at ease, calm and composed as he helped to pull the strings. Jürgen Klopp’s men racked up 7.11 expected goals in their 4-2 win, the highest xG on record (since 2010-11) from one team in a Premier League game.
When Liverpool signed Endo in August, there were more than a few eyebrows raised. Many had never heard of him, and even though others who were aware of Endo’s talents spoke highly of him, there was still plenty of surprise that Liverpool deemed him worthy of the famous red shirt.
Having spent the summer transfer window signing bright young midfielders as part of a long-term rebuild, and also having had a nine-figure bid for Brighton’s Moisés Caicedo prove unsuccessful after the Ecuadorian chose Chelsea, the last thing people expected Liverpool to do was to go for a 30-year-old from the Bundesliga for a reported £16 million.
Unsurprisingly, Endo was eased slowly into things at Anfield.
He started games here and there in the UEFA Europa League and EFL Cup, but following that first game in Newcastle, Endo didn’t start again in the Premier League until mid-November’s home win against Brentford.
He was back on the bench for the 1-1 draw at Manchester City as well as the dramatic home game with Fulham, where he came on with Liverpool 3-2 down and scored a spectacular equaliser, just prior to Trent Alexander-Arnold firing in the winner in a 4-3 success.
That impact saw him play the full 90 minutes of the 2-0 win at Sheffield United, where Alexis Mac Allister suffered an injury that would keep him out until the new year. That meant Endo was going to be needed during the busy festive period, and Klopp made full use of the 30-year-old.
Endo went on to start five games in 13 days, becoming the first outfield player to do so for the club since January 2006. It wasn’t just out of necessity, though. He was keeping his place on merit, becoming a key part of more controlled Liverpool performances.
His showing in the 2-0 win at Burnley on Boxing Day drew particular praise from his manager, who said afterward: “I loved his game, I have to say. It’s a bit of a shame he finds his feet and now he goes to the Asian Cup.”
And that’s the unfortunate thing for both Endo and Liverpool. It feels as though the player has started to figure out English football, but now will miss up to five weeks of the season while away at the AFC Asian Cup with Japan.
In his final outing before heading off for the tournament in Qatar, Endo shone against Newcastle. He attempted (69) and completed (63 – 91.3%) more passes than any other Liverpool player despite playing just 75 minutes. He attempted 37 passes in the Newcastle half, completing 91.9% of them, and made three interceptions. Only Alexander-Arnold (four) made more.
The difference between games with and without Endo does seem striking. Just looking at the Premier League this season, Liverpool have won six of the eight games (75%) Endo has started, but only seven of the 12 games he hasn’t (58.3%). They’ve also conceded just five goals in those eight games (0.6 per game) versus 13 in the 12 when he hasn’t started (1.1 per game).
That, of course, doesn’t take into account games where he came off the bench where – as mentioned already – he has also made a difference, such as in the 4-3 victory over Fulham. In Premier League games where Endo has featured at any time, Liverpool have won 11 of 15 (73.3%), scoring 34 goals (2.3 per game) and averaging 2.4 points per game. In the five games where Endo didn’t play a single minute, Liverpool won just two (40%) and scored only nine goals (1.8 per game), averaging 1.8 points per game.
When we looked at Endo in the summer following his move to Liverpool, we noted that he was particularly strong in the air. No Bundesliga midfielder won more than his 219 aerial duels during his time at Stuttgart, winning 2.2 out of 3.7 per 90 minutes. That has continued in the Premier League this season, with no Liverpool midfielder able to match his 1.9 aerial duels won per 90 (from an average of 3.6 contested). Only eight midfielders in the Premier League to have played at least 500 minutes have won more aerial duels per 90.
Endo also had the most attacking sequence involvements for Stuttgart in the Bundesliga last season (129). That hasn’t been the case at Liverpool. Of Klopp’s midfielders who have played at least 180 minutes in the Premier League this season, Harvey Elliott (7.9), Dominik Szoboszlai (6.7), Curtis Jones (5.9) and Ryan Gravenberch (5.0) have all averaged more attacking sequence involvements per 90, though Endo’s 4.8 is marginally more than Mac Allister (4.7).
When Liverpool signed Endo, Klopp made a point of showing gratitude that he had a midfielder whose primary mindset was to defend. The club had missed out on Caicedo, while also losing another reported target in Roméo Lavia to Chelsea.
At a test event for Liverpool’s renovated Anfield Road stand in December, Klopp told the crowd: “The summer we had, we had a few strange things happen in the transfer market but here, between us, I can say, ‘My god, were we lucky, eh?’. We didn’t know that in that moment and it didn’t feel like it in that moment, but yeah, I’m really happy that it worked out…” before joking:
“We obviously realised that other central defensive midfielders don’t want to join Liverpool, you see what happens, and then we found [Wataru] Endo. He’s an exceptional player.”
One of the main jobs for Endo when he arrived was to be an improvement on the outgoing Fabinho, who struggled for form last season and was ultimately sold to Al-Ittihad of the Saudi Pro League.
In all competitions, Endo is ahead of the Brazilian’s numbers from last season for tackles per 90 (2.22-2.19), interceptions (1.50-1.25), possession won (6.8-5.9), possession won in the final third (0.92-0.71) and passes (64.4-60.3).
He also compares similarly to Mac Allister, who is the only other player to regularly take up the deepest-lying midfield role this season. The former Brighton man and FIFA World Cup winner does have higher numbers for passes forward under pressure than Endo (5.6-2.2), suggesting he is more adventurous on the ball, but the former Stuttgart player’s tidiness and more risk-averse nature has arguably been a key part of Liverpool’s calmer performances of late.
Regarding Endo, Klopp recently said: “We don’t give people time anymore… Some of the biggest players this club in my era ever saw needed time to adapt. Some others didn’t. But some big players did.
“Andy Robertson didn’t play half a year, pretty much was not in the squad! And Fabinho we had to change the system for because he couldn’t play [as the] six alone [at first]. Later on he could play that easily, made it his position, so it’s all fine.
“You need a bit of time, that’s all. We see [Endo] every day in training and he is one of the hardest-working people I ever met. It was always clear that it will be good, but I’m happy obviously for him the public could see it now as well, because that’s pretty helpful in our job.”
Liverpool fans have gone from wondering if Endo is good enough to play for them to hoping Japan go out of the Asian Cup as early as possible.
As the great Bill Shankly once said: “A football team is like a piano. You need eight men to carry it and three who can play the damn thing.”
Endo will never be a figure as iconic as Alisson, Van Dijk or Mohamed Salah, but keep carrying that piano and he will justify Liverpool’s decision to take a leap of faith.
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