Paul Salt has questioned whether Wataru Endo has the pace necessary to cope with the demands of Premier League football.
The concern centred around the Japanese international’s poor tackle on Christian Norgaard, which appeared to catch the Brentford star with his studs.
“He seems half a yard slower, it’s almost like the game is too quick for him,” the BBC Radio Merseyside pundit spoke on The Red Kop podcast.
“I’m not just basing this on yesterday but whenever I’ve seen him, that’s why he is a walking booking. It’s almost like he can’t get up to the pace of the game.
“The contentious challenge which resulted in him not being sent off actually came from his bad touch. I don’t think it was a red card. I can understand what Frank is saying, but he’s not going in studs up. He’s trying to make up for his bad touch and he does catch him. I think a yellow card would have been fair enough.
“It’s a bit concerning for me, he just seems a little bit too slow for the game, or the game is too fast for him. His tackling is off, but I don’t know whether that’s because he can’t get up to pace. I was surprised he played [against Brentford] because he had an absolute stinker in the first half on Thursday.”
A lengthy VAR check, however, resulted in the summer signing keeping his place on the pitch.
READ MORE: Steve McManaman hammers £11.75m Liverpool player who ‘fell asleep’ during Toulouse clash
A poor performance at the weekend?
The stats certainly suggest our former Stuttgart skipper may be struggling when it comes to making challenges.
Sofascore recorded Endo successfully registering 1/9 ground duels on the day – a rather poor showing, it has to be said, from our starting No.6.
It’s worth pointing out, of course, that until the 30-year-old begins to enjoy more regular minutes, it’ll be difficult to judge how seriously we should be taking such concerns.
At any rate, we’ve a tough fixture coming up after the international break in Manchester City and we’d be surprised to see the midfielder start ahead of Alexis Mac Allister.
He’s not yet up to the level required but I remember Fabinho in the beginning. He was poor. Took him a good couple of months as he wasn’t used to playing in a single pivot holding role. He played as one of a two in Monaco. But Endo does spot a quick pass forward though.
Who’s Paul Salt ??
Paul who…?
Another pundit not worrh his salt