Wataru Endo sums up dressing-room mood after Bournemouth heartbreak

Wataru Endo’s post-match reaction after the Bournemouth loss offered a calm snapshot of where we are right now, after conceding a stoppage-time winner and seeing our unbeaten run end.

Endo spoke to Liverpoolfc.com after the match and made it clear the feeling was frustration rather than excuses.

“Of course the result we are disappointed about,” Endo said, before adding: “The way we came back was great and we showed ourselves. I’m just disappointed about the result.”

That matters because Endo is one of the players who has barely had a platform this season.

And yet he was the one fronting up, despite being thrown into an emergency role at centre-back after Joe Gomez went off.

Endo reaction shows Liverpool mindset after Bournemouth late winner

Endo’s comments were measured.

He credited our response after going 2-0 down.

He also framed the chaotic finish as a game that could have gone either way, saying “in the last 10 minutes both deserved to score”.

That is Endo in a nutshell: blunt about the outcome, but focused on what we did well.

It also underlines the leadership element.

When the match got messy, we leaned on a player who is rarely first choice, but is trusted to do a job wherever he is needed.

Endo Bournemouth stats hint at why Slot trusts him

Endo replaced Gomez in the 34th minute and ended up playing 56 minutes out of position.

Here’s how his numbers looked (via SofaScore):

It is not a perfect cameo, but it was solid considering the context and the position.

Endo kept the ball moving and did the basic centre-back work we needed late on.

The bigger picture is hard to ignore, though.

Slot has spoken about fatigue, yet we have options like Endo, Andy Robertson, Curtis Jones, Rio Ngumoha and others who can help spread the load if we trust them more often.

And when injuries bite, like they did again here, we are asking players to fill gaps rather than playing specialists.

Instead of bemoaning a lack of options, perhaps leaning on the players he has more would mean we wouldn’t be listening to more injury updates post game.

Endo’s reaction was clear: we showed fight to come back from 2-0 down, but the late winner left us “just disappointed”, and his steady display out of position showed why he is trusted in difficult moments.

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