Arne Slot was pleased to welcome Liverpool pair Hugo Ekitike and Wataru Endo back from injury and has hinted he could turn to the Japanese at right-back
Liverpool head coach Arne Slot during the FA Cup tie against Barnsley.(Image: MB Media/Getty Images)
Arne Slot has hinted he might turn to Wataru Endo at right-back following the Japan international’s return from injury. The 32-year-old was an unused substitute for Liverpool’s FA Cup win over Barnsley on Monday night, having been sidelined with an ankle injury since the 3-3 draw away at Leeds United at the start of December.
Endo had found his game-time limited so far this season, with the midfielder only making five appearances in the Premier League.
Meanwhile, he has featured for just 11 minutes in the English top-flight since the end of August, with only four of his eight appearances in all competitions coming since the end of the summer transfer window.
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But having seen Conor Bradley ruled out until the end of the campaign with a season-ending knee injury, Slot has hinted he could, at times, turn to Endo at right-back with the Dutchman admitting he would rather not play Dominik Szoboszlai in the position.
“We have three long-term injuries. Conor, Giovanni Leoni, Alex (Isak) – not as long as the other two but also quite long,” Slot said. “Wata had only trained once…
“It’s good to have Wata back as well because you can see another time Dominik Szoboszlai had to play in the full-back position, and that might not be for the last time this season.
“Although I favour him in the midfield, and I think he favours himself in midfield. But sometimes if you have no other options, you need to be creative.”
Slot also shared his delight at having Hugo Ekitike back from a hamstring injury after the France international missed Liverpool’s last two games.
However, the Dutchman shared his sympathy with Trey Nyoni after he conceded the teenager had found himself limited to only a late substitute appearance against the Tykes because of Barnsley’s goal, courtesy of a Szoboszlai error, shortly before half-time.
“Hugo, of course we missed him. Even more if Alex is out as well,” he told LFC TV. “But we couldn’t take the risk because Alex is out.
“You cannot take the risk in the games before. It is always nice if you are number nine and you didn’t play for two games, that you come in and immediately score again. Good to have him back.
“I feel really sorry for Trey because maybe it was my mistake but at 2-1 I thought I had to make the substitutions to win the game instead of giving a young player who is training every single day so hard and is such a big talent the playing time he might deserve.
“I thought, ‘Let’s bring Ryan in first’, and that all had to do with us conceding the 2-1, because usually a game like this should go to three and then maybe more. But we made it difficult for ourselves.”
