Wataru Endo’s delayed start at Liverpool was explained by Jurgen Klopp as being “polite,” but the manager now confesses he was “not happy” with that assessment.
Endo has adjusted to his new club more slowly than Dominik Szoboszlai and Alexis Mac Allister, according to Klopp, who also believes that Endo’s “very calm and very polite” demeanour “cost him the first two weeks.”
Germany, where Endo spent four years playing for Stuttgart, criticised it, labelling Klopp’s assertion as “bizarre.”
But in the second half of Wednesday’s 3-1 triumph over Leicester, the 30-year-old was anything but courteous, and his all-action display was hailed as a breakthrough.
After a challenging start at Anfield, when asked on Friday about Endo’s performance in the League Cup, Klopp referred back to his remarks from the previous week.
“I wasn’t shocked since that is how he trains, so I wasn’t. He is already there for training, as I previously stated,” the manager remarked.
“I was not too happy with the way I described the situation with this ‘polite’ [term].
“But when you’re not native that makes life sometimes really difficult, even when you think I’m eight years in, should maybe speak better English.
“Some people have a personality of getting into something and taking everything, and you have the others who come in, look left and right and think ‘OK, let’s have a look first’.
“That says nothing about the person, that’s just your character. But both can succeed. Just different timescales.
“Now we have two new players in Dom and Macca who just step in and ‘hello, here we are’, with later Ryan obviously, who is doing pretty well as well.
“Then you have the fourth one, and you say ‘I’m not really sure’.
“If we don’t give people time anymore, what kind of world is that?”
In reality, England regarded Klopp’s earlier remarks about Endo as nothing near to criticism – just that, as he has now stated, the No. 3 has taken longer to settle.
The Japanese skipper revealed after the victory over Leicester that his family, which includes four children, had only recently moved to Merseyside.
That may have a significant impact on a player’s performance, and Klopp was effusive in his admiration of Endo for helping out Szoboszlai in particular.
“I was not surprised [with his performance vs. Leicester], that’s how he trains,” he continued.
“It looks really good, super promising and it’s exactly what we wanted.
“He’s a top, top guy, and so I’m really happy for him that he could show the outside world a first glimpse of his quality. It’s really nice.
“With all the understandable attention on Dominik’s goal, the pass was as good. I didn’t see any space between the two players.
“Dom told me later, ‘I hoped he’d see me’. Yeah, he saw you, but then he still has to think there is enough space for the ball between the other players.
“So that was a top, top pass – passes we missed in the past, that’s the truth as well. You get these balls through.
“He played so many forward balls, that was really good.
“So, he’s in a good way, and I was really happy for him to show this sign in the second half.”