Arne Slot believes the lack of options from the bench is not helping Liverpool’s ability to see out games in recent weeks
Arne Slot admits Liverpool have missed the experience of Wataru Endo from the bench during their recent struggles to see out matches from winning positions. The Reds led 2-0 at Tottenham Hotspur and home to Wolves in their last two Premier League games only to concede from a corner during the second half in both matches.
Slot’s side were then forced to withstand strong pressure from their opponents, despite Tottenham ending the match with only nine men and Wolves being cast adrift at the bottom of the table.
Endo, who remains sidelined with the ankle injury that has ruled him out of the last four games, gained a reputation last season as Liverpool’s “closer” in helping protect narrow leads during the final moments.
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The Japan international did come on for the latter stages of the trip to Leeds United in early December when Liverpool were 3-2 up only to draw 3-3, and the final minutes of October’s game at Chelsea when the Reds conceded deep in injury time to lose 2-1. However, his efforts were hampered by injuries suffered during both cameo outings.
And when told Liverpool have too often been hanging on in games, Slot – whose side entertain Leeds in the reverse fixture on Thursday evening – replied: “Yep, I can only agree with you. It tells you how important goals are in a low-scoring sport. A goal can change momentum which is what we saw the last two games.
“In both games, until the moment we conceded it was the performance you would like from a Liverpool team although in an ideal world with so much ball possession, I would see even more chances created.
“Goals have a massive impact on the momentum of a game. That is what has been shown in the last two games of ours.
“One way of game management is the ability to make substitutions, maybe to bring an extra defender or last year when we were one goal up, a lot of times I brought Wataru Endo in.
“I have already said, I don’t know if anyone notices it but we miss quite a lot of players. That is why it is so special that the players that are fit bring these results.”
