Arne Slot praises Liverpool player with just five minutes of action as 'one of most positive things'

Arne Slot praises Liverpool player with just five minutes of action as 'one of most positive things'

Wataru Endo impressed in the five minutes he was on the pitch as Liverpool held on to a 1-0 win over Crystal Palace

Arne Slot gestures on the touchline during the English Premier League football match between Crystal Palace and Liverpool at Selhurst Park in south London on October 5, 2024. (Image: GLYN KIRK/AFP via Getty Images )

Arne Slot praised the mentality and attitude of Wataru Endo after the midfielder helped Liverpool earn a hard-fought 1-0 win at Crystal Palace on Saturday lunchtime. The Japan captain has been rarely used so far in the Premier League, playing just a couple of stoppage-time minutes in the 2-0 win over Brentford in August before the weekend's victory at Palace.

Endo was once more called for late at Selhurst Park, featuring for the six minutes of stoppage time as the Reds were made to work hard for their victory in south London.

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Despite being on the fringes so far, Slot has been impressed with how Endo has gone about his work and he praised the former Stuttgart star for refusing to be unhappy at the lack of opportunities to date.

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"I think that is one of the most positive things about this team," Slot said when asked about Endo after the game, which was settled by Diogo Jota's early goal.

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"Even if a player comes in for five or seven minutes, such a big player - someone who is captain of their country - comes in five minutes before the end. Sometimes, at certain clubs, other teams, I see a player coming in [unhappy] 'you only use me for five minutes?'

"But if you looked at how good Wata was with the ball but also the second balls he won, he had only in these minutes a very good impact and that tells you a lot about the team cohesion but definitely also about the person in this situation that Wata only played five minutes that said a lot about him as a person but a lot about the team cohesion as well."

Premier League leaders Liverpool have now conceded just twice in their seven games to date and Slot says that record is down to a collective effort from front to back

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Slot added: "There is a lot that goes into it and a lot to tell you to give you a good answer but one of the things you saw today was how much we controlled the first 60 and then we had 15 or 20 minutes that was difficult and then in the last 10 we took control again.

"We took control by having a good build-up and that helps to tire the opponents and the other team because they have to run a lot, they have to defend a lot to make it difficult for us. And then the work rate our attackers put in is also extraordinary, that combination with a few other things - because it is also the quality of the centre-backs and the goalkeeper - leads to so many clean sheets."

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