2 weeks ago
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Photo by Marc Atkins/Getty Images
Despite a lack of playing time, the midfielder remains positive and upbeat.
Elite athletics is such an alien experience for the 99% of us out there. It’s not just that we’re unable to grasp what it’s like to be that good at any one thing as a Premier League footballer is at football, it’s that even in that rarefied air, athletes necessarily still fight and compete for places. And while most fans will find obvious stratification between certain tiers of players, the truth is that the margins are all incredibly razor thin.
Most importantly, some of those gaps are defined by things outside of an individual footballer’s control: injuries, for example, or the quality of the team that you play in. A player might shine in a lower table team but would find it incredibly hard to make the pitch when on a squad that’s a European powerhouse.
Sometimes, as is the case at Liverpool for midfielder and Japan international, Wataru Endo, the issue is that a new manager with a new system has taken a massive slash at an athlete’s playing time. In situations like this, it’d be quite human to brood. However, Endo’s taken an approach that speaks to the kind of leadership bonafides one might infer if they hadn’t already known he is the captain for his national team: a mature understanding of the nature of top-flight football and an unerring commitment to the continued success of the whole project.
He displayed this terrific mentality when featuring on the Red Machine Podcast, produced by Liverpool FC sponsor Kodansha. The official site captured a few of the comments and it’s worth reading them here:
“Now, I don’t play a lot of games, but I always focus on what I can do for this club and what I can do to help my teammates, or the new manager. So, I think I really focus on that and I am obviously happy to be part of it and to be a player for Liverpool. I have talked with him [Slot]. He told me the same thing that he said in the interview so I think that’s what I needed to do at the moment and I am so glad that he knows that I always try to work hard on the pitch.”
It’s such a practical view of circumstances that most of us would be crushed by: achieving your dream of making a Premier League squad, only to suddenly be relegated to the bench when new leadership comes in and makes big changes. It should be obvious to most that when you’ve got shifts like these at a club, it isn’t like a footballer forgot how to play overnight. Rather, it’s that the new system doesn’t play to your strengths.
Liverpool’s squad unity and mentality are once more among the best in the league. This is, after all, a team of captains and one with the experience to navigate rough patches. It gives me calm to know that Wataru is on our side because a run at the Premier League Trophy is one that requires leaning into that practical and detached view. It is an intangible edge that the Reds carry - along with their points haul - in search of their 20th league title. One that, at present, none of their nearest rivals in the title chase has.
