“What a Boy and What a Player,” said Klopp.

The Japanese midfield player has truly established himself with the team, but sadly, international duty calls.

Following Liverpool FC’s 2-0 road victory against Burnley, manager Jürgen Klopp gave particular recognition to midfielder Wataru Endō. The Japanese midfielder recently reached a unique milestone in terms of consecutive appearances and has appeared to be very at ease lately.

Today is Liverpool's 5th game in 13 days – and Wataru Endo is the only player to start all 5 of those games.

Endo is the first outfielder to start 5 games in 13 days for #LFC since January 2006, when Finnan, Carragher, Hyypiä, Gerrard, Kewell, and Crouch all did so. #BURLIV

— Michael Reid (@michael_reid11) December 26, 2023

During the post-match press conference, our manager discussed Endō’s recent performances as follows:

“I must admit, I really enjoyed this game. It’s unfortunate that after finding his footing, he is now off to the Asian Cup, but that’s life. What a player, what a youngster, and how very significant. We have to play without him at least in January, but he is present when we play Newcastle. The boys then depart, so we’ll have to figure out another route. However, I am very glad for him right now. Although it took him some time to truly demonstrate his abilities, I’m glad that we can now witness it.

Monday’s match against Newcastle United will be Wataru’s final before he leaves for Japan’s AFC Asian Cup training camp. The team, one of the favourites going into the tournament, will be captained by Endō. Iraq, Vietnam, and Indonesia are among its group members.

If they made it to the final, he would miss seven games:

– the FA Cup tie at Arsenal

– both legs of the EFL Cup semi-finals against Fulham

– Premier League games against Bournemouth,  Arsenal, Chelsea, and Burnley

Wataru, best of luck. We’ll see you when you return.

More news……

Richard Keys makes an odd statement while Jürgen Klopp verifies a “very serious” injury to Liverpool.

Following a potentially critical injury sustained during Saturday night’s Premier League match between Liverpool and Arsenal, Kostas Tsimikas will be sidelined for a while.

Kostas Tsimikas, a defender for Liverpool, was thought to have broken his collarbone during Saturday’s 1-1 draw with Arsenal at Anfield. Shortly after the half-hour mark, Tsimikas was struggling with Gunners winger Bukayo Saka for the ball when Saka nudged him to the ground. As he went down, Klopp collided with manager Jürgen Klopp.

Tsimikas was unable to continue after a protracted course of therapy, thus Joe Gomez took his place. After that, the Greek international had to visit the hospital; although his official prognosis is still pending, it looks like he will be out for a long.

BeIN Sports anchor Richard Keys oddly blamed Klopp for his defender’s injury in a post on X/Twitter, claiming that the defender was positioned too close to the pitch. Keys has already used the opportunity to voice his displeasure with Mikel Arteta, Klopp’s opposing number, for his touchline antics.

“It’s an irony that it’s Klopp — with Arteta in the other technical area — but that’s exactly why a coach being too close to the playing area is dangerous,” he stated. The German team is facing an increasing number of absences due to injuries sustained by Luis Díaz in the match at the top of the table and absences by players such as Thiago, Diogo Jota, and Alexis Mac Allister.

According to Klopp, “I thought it wasn’t really a problem because I had no pain,” following the game, as reported by the BBC. “He would be fit again, and I would gladly give him my collarbone. At that moment, I was all right. Although he stated, “No, it’s broken,” I assumed Kostas was as well.

After the game, Saka expressed regret for the incident, but Klopp stated that Tsimikas would be “out for a long time” due to a “really bad” injury. It’s unlikely that Andy Robertson will return for a few more weeks.

According to Liverpool.com, this was actually just an unlucky mishap of the kind that can occur throughout any game. Saka’s challenge was correctly called a foul, but there was nothing dangerous about it. Klopp was essentially standing inside his technical area and did nothing wrong. Every game, we witness players being dragged down in that way repeatedly with no long-term consequences.

Liverpool won’t be worried about whether the injury could have been avoided. Rather, the focus will be on coming up with a solution, as Tsimikas joins Robertson in the treatment room following the latter’s shoulder dislocation. If Klopp doesn’t push young players like Luke Chambers or Calum Scanlon into the Premier League spotlight, it might compel the right-footed Gomez to play a longer series of games at left defence.