Liverpool manager Arne Slot warned that Wataru Endo is likely to be sidelined for a lengthy period after suffering a serious ankle problem in Wednesday\u2019s 1\u20130 win over Sunderland. The 33-year-old, whose standing foot was caught in the sodden turf as he went to intercept a cross, initially remained on the field and defended the ensuing corner before being stretchered off and replaced by Joe Gomez.<\/p>\n
Slot was frank about the outlook post-match. “His injury doesn\u2019t look good,” Arne Slot revealed after the game. “I expect him to be out unfortunately for quite a long time again. What a mentality for him as well that things really didn\u2019t look good but he stayed on the pitch and defended one more set piece.”<\/p>\n
On the medical situation, Slot added: “It\u2019s a serious one. How serious we don\u2019t know yet. He has to be assessed tomorrow. Foot [injury], we don\u2019t know what it is yet, but it will be assessed tomorrow. I assume he will be out for a long time.”<\/p>\n
Endo was deployed at right back because Dominik Szoboszlai was suspended and injuries to Conor Bradley and Jeremie Frimpong left the position depleted, together with a continued lack of trust in Calvin Ramsay. Bradley will miss the remainder of the season, and while Frimpong is not expected to be out for too much longer, no exact return date has been confirmed.<\/p>\n
Joe Gomez made his comeback as Endo\u2019s replacement, but Slot remains short of dependable options. Gomez is also required to cover at centre back when necessary, a role that has seen Ibrahima Konat\u00e9 and Virgil van Dijk heavily relied upon amid reduced depth.<\/p>\n
Liverpool\u2019s defensive problems have been compounded since a summer signing, Giovanni Leoni, was injured in September. The club chose not to sign defensive cover in January, although they completed a summer transfer for J\u00e9r\u00e9my Jacquet, who has since suffered a shoulder injury at Rennes.<\/p>\n
The severity of Endo\u2019s issue remains unclear, but his stretcher exit and visible agony on Wearside make a lengthy absence a real prospect for the veteran midfielder.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Slot expects Endo to be out long-term after an ankle injury in Liverpool 1\u20130 win at Sunderland match<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6835,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[175,969],"tags":[947,299],"class_list":["post-6836","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-liverpool","category-premier-league","tag-ankle-injury","tag-arne-slot"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6836","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6836"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6836\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6835"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6836"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6836"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6836"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}