Worse than Endo: Liverpool’s ‘abysmal’ dud lost possession 25x against LASK

It’s starting to get a bit repetitive, but that was another real Jekyll-and-Hyde performance from Liverpool.

The Reds extended their opening unbeaten run to the season with victory over LASK in Austria, with Jurgen Klopp’s side starting their Europa League campaign off triumphantly, but another slow start allowed midfielder Florian Flecker to score a scintillating goal from the edge of the box.

While a disjointed Liverpool fell flat before the break, they emerged revitalised in the second half, with the devastating offence wreaking havoc once more, and The Athletic’s James Pearce heralding the “powers of recovery.”

How did Wataru Endo perform vs LASK?
Having produced a similar result of first-half misfortune against Wolverhampton Wanderers in the Premier League last week, Klopp fielded a much-changed XI in Linz, and it’s perhaps understandable that an unfamiliar crop took a little time to click into gear.

Regardless, reporter Neil Jones lamented the English outfit’s “sloppiness” and while Nunez and Luis Diaz’s swift double turned the tide, with substitute Mohamed Salah scoring late on (of course he did), the club’s German manager will rue the failure to take control in the early stages once again

Such was largely compounded by the midfield’s inability to produce composed and cohesive patterns of play, with £16m summer signing Wataru Endo failing to craft a commanding performance despite flashes of dogged defending.

The Japan captain wasn’t horrific, per say, but did fail to take his moment to dazzle and misplaced some simple passes while winning just one ground duel all night, also dribbled past once and making just one tackle.

The Liverpool Echo’s Ian Doyle perhaps put it best in his post-match player ratings, stating: “Appeared half-a-yard short in the opening exchanges and too often gave the ball away. A difficult night.”

That said, he wasn’t the only underperformer on Thursday evening.

While Endo’s overall quality was at times laid awkwardly bare, it was left-back Kostas Tsimikas who endured the most substandard of showings for Klopp’s side, with Paul Gorst remarking that he didn’t have his “finest hour” down the left channel.

The Greek ace has played second fiddle to Andy Robertson ever since joining from Olympiakos for around £12m in 2020, and while he is a creative player with a wand of a left foot, producing 12 assists from just 63 appearances, he would be fortunate to have avoided a scolding.

Such was largely compounded by the midfield’s inability to produce composed and cohesive patterns of play, with £16m summer signing Wataru Endo failing to craft a commanding performance despite flashes of dogged defending.

The Japan captain wasn’t horrific, per say, but did fail to take his moment to dazzle and misplaced some simple passes while winning just one ground duel all night, also dribbled past once and making just one tackle.

The Liverpool Echo’s Ian Doyle perhaps put it best in his post-match player ratings, stating: “Appeared half-a-yard short in the opening exchanges and too often gave the ball away. A difficult night.”

That said, he wasn’t the only underperformer on Thursday evening.

How good was Kostas Tsimikas vs LASK?

While Endo’s overall quality was at times laid awkwardly bare, it was left-back Kostas Tsimikas who endured the most substandard of showings for Klopp’s side, with Paul Gorst remarking that he didn’t have his “finest hour” down the left channel.

The Greek ace has played second fiddle to Andy Robertson ever since joining from Olympiakos for around £12m in 2020, and while he is a creative player with a wand of a left foot, producing 12 assists from just 63 appearances, he would be fortunate to have avoided a scolding.

Indeed, the 27-year-old did play the full 90 minutes, making three interceptions and one tackle, but failed to contribute with a single key pass and actually succeeded with only four of his 14 ranged passes, conjuring up nothing of note.

There was one moment, late into the first half, when Liverpool had defended a set piece and were presented with a glorious chance to counter.

The ball fell fortuitously to the defender, who barrelled forward and had apt time to unleash a through ball to either Ben Doak or Darwin Nunez – forwards of equally electric measure – but instead proved indecisive and got tangled up in the centre of the pitch, squandering possession.

That just so happened to be one of 25 times that he gave the ball away, a mind-blowing lyrics high number and worrying indeed.

One LFC podcaster even went as far as to brand the 86-touch dud as “abysmal, and while this may be a tad harsh, it’s fair to say that Tsimikas did not enjoy a match to hold in memory.

Also failing to make a single successful dribble, it was a pretty dire showing from the £50k-per-week left-back, who has done little to convince Klopp of his worth and will count his lucky stars that Liverpool’s incisive attack salvaged three points to kick off the European journey.