Arne Slot’s mistreatment of THIS player cost Liverpool the treble

One of Liverpool’s more significant issues over the past month-or-so has been a clear fatigue in the squad.

It should have been expected. The entire side was performing at an unsustainably high level for so long that it essentially won the Reds their 20th Premier League title.

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But there are now significant questions being asked about Arne Slot’s use of his squad depth. The Dutch head coach clearly isn’t keen on a vast amount of his squad and it means the same 13-15 players only get significant game time.

One player who has missed out significantly this season has been Wataru Endo.

Without the lack of an evident defensive midfielder coming into the season there was talk that Endo could be finally set for a serious place in the Liverpool team.

Instead, Slot decided to tell Ryan Gravenberch that he’d wasted his career so far and let him be the best defensive midfielder in the world for the year instead. It was certainly the right thing to do.

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Endo was reduced to bit-part appearances in the first few months of the season, only getting starts in cup games.

He actually more than doubled his league minutes with a 33-minute showing in the 5-0 win over West Ham back in December, before getting 20-30 minutes appearances in six games since then.

Yet despite this, he’s managed to win the hearts and minds of Liverpool fans and actually become a meme (in a good way!) recently.

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His 20-minute cameos to see out the game, dismantling opposing attacks and stemming the flow of any potential danger, have allowed Liverpool to get themselves to the point where they only need four more wins for the league title.

Why has Arne Slot treated Wataru Endo like this?

But Liverpool’s starting XI have seen a visible fatigue set in during this time. Gravenberch has still performed at a high level but not at the same won that saw Liverpool set the pace through to January.

And it has brought about the question - why is Slot so dismissive of Endo?

It’s clear that Liverpool’s head coach isn’t willing to give any significant minutes to players he doesn’t see as part of his long-term plan at Anfield. Endo is 32 years old and rumours of his departure have emerged this season, which wouldn’t be too surprising.

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Yet recent reports suggested the Japanese captain could be set for an extended contract at the club.

But using him when Gravenberch is clearly flagging amid an intense run of games is surely a better option than just running the Dutchman into the ground.

Investing time in players who will be here for a while isn’t a strategy to criticise, but neither is forcing them to play through periods of struggle.

Endo has done enough at this club to deserve to be treated better than this.

No matter what happens, he’ll always have a place in the hearts of Reds for what he’s done this year.

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