Wataru Endo made an influential cameo as Liverpool held onto a 1-0 lead to take victory from Crystal Palace, with Arne Slot praising the midfielder afterwards.
Endo has been forced to settle for a backup role in Slot’s squad so far this season, with Saturday bringing only his fourth appearance.
Three of those have been off the bench for a total of three minutes of normal time, though his impact on the result at Selhurst Park included a battling display into six minutes of stoppage time.
Without Endo, Liverpool may not have had the same fight late on, with a number of timely interventions seeing him win back and retain possession.
As Slot told reporters in his post-match press conference, it is a credit to Endo’s professionalism and team spirit that he was able to do so.
“I think that is one of the most positive things I see in this team, that even if a player comes in five to seven minutes – such a big player, captain of his country, coming in five minutes before the end – ,” the head coach explained.
“I sometimes, at certain clubs or other teams, see then a player coming in a bit like ‘you only use me for five or seven minutes?’.
“But if you look at how Wata came in now, how good he was on the ball but also the second balls that he won, he had only in these seven minutes a very good impact.
“I think that tells you a lot about team cohesion, but definitely also about the person.
“Wata, with only playing five minutes, he gives that performance – that says a lot about him as a person.”
Per FotMob, in his brief cameo Endo completed four of his five attempted passes, created a chance, made one recovery and won his only attempted tackle for a 100 percent duel success rate.
While it may not be the role he had been hoping for after an impressive debut campaign at Liverpool under Jurgen Klopp, the Japan captain is still applying himself with the same work ethic.
That could earn him further opportunities down the line, with Slot needing his full squad over the course of a long and challenging season.
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