Jurgen Klopp was delighted with Wataru Endo’s Liverpool debut in Saturday’s 3-1 win over Bournemouth after admitting the new signing would have had “no clue what to do” tactically.
The Japan captain only completed his £16million move from Stuttgart on Friday and was a late addition to Liverpool’s matchday squad after his international clearance narrowly came through on time.
But the 30-year-old was thrown in at the deep end when asked to come on moments after Alexis Mac Allister was sent off just before the hour mark – even if the task was made slightly easier as Diogo Jota made it 3-1 to Liverpool as Endo was waiting to come on.
“It was a horrible first game coming in,” Klopp said. “He did absolutely all right. But he came there, he had no clue what to do. I spoke in the morning with him about how with 11 players it would look, but 4-4-1 was not involved in our conversation.
“I don’t think he slept a lot in the last two nights but he came on and threw everything he had on the pitch.”
Endo’s job was to help Liverpool shut up shop at the end of a frantic fixture, in which Antoine Semenyo had fired Bournemouth in front just three minutes in amid a terrible start from Liverpool, before Luis Diaz levelled and Mo Salah’s penalty put the hosts in front before the break.
While Endo was making a full debut quicker than expected, Saturday’s match was a first Anfield appearance for both Mac Allister and fellow summer signing Dominik Szoboszlai.
The 22-year-old Szoboszlai won the penalty when he made the most of an outstretched leg from Joe Rothwell, and it was his shot which Neto could only parry to allow Jota to make it 3-1.
“His away debut was not too bad either,” Klopp said of the £60million signing from RB Leipzig. “I had to hold him back a little bit. He was the only one who has the power for more.
“He was part of the double six, running everything, but the general performance level he showed since he was here is really, really good. And his involvement in the goal is obviously super important.
“His shooting we didn’t see properly yet but we will probably see more in the future. Macca’s home debut was impressive as well, it just wasn’t as long.”
The win takes Liverpool to four points from their opening two fixtures after last Sunday’s 1-1 draw at Chelsea.
“I think it’s the minimum we should expect from these two games,” Klopp said. “When we look at the games we don’t say where we should win or lose but when you start at Chelsea I don’t think anybody goes there and books the points in, ‘OK we have them already’.
“Of course against Bournemouth, our first home game, we want to win. It’s an OK start. If we wouldn’t have won we would think differently.”
Bournemouth goalscorer Semenyo was the one change Andoni Iraola made to his starting line-up and the January signing from Bristol City suggested he is fully over the shin surgery he had at the end of last season with a strong display.
“He was really good (last week against West Ham) when he came in and gave us a lot of energy for 20 minutes,” Iraola said. “He has been training well and here he has scored. He finished really tired like a lot of players did but it’s good news.
“I think he can play both wings and as a number nine. He is physically powerful and we need this.”
Kane gunning for Lewandowski's single-season Bundesliga goal record
Harry Kane has his eyes set on Robert Lewandowski's single-season Bundesliga goal record after scoring twice in Bayern Munich's 2-1 win over Eintracht Frankfurt, though he knows he needs "to get a move on".
Kane scored in both halves on Saturday to take his tally to 42 goals this season across all competitions, also reaching the 400-goal mark at senior level for clubs and country.
The striker scored 280 of those goals for Tottenham, holding the honour of being the club's all-time leading scorer, while he is also the most prolific player in England history with 62 goals for the Three Lions.
With 35 goals in 31 Bundesliga appearances this season, Kane now has his eyes set on another piece of history.
Former Bayern striker Robert Lewandowski holds the record for the most goals scored in a single Bundesliga campaign, netting 41 times in 2020-21.
Asked about the possibility of breaking that record with just three games remaining in Bayern's league campaign, Kane said: "It's possible, but obviously I have to get a move on!
"I've got to maybe score a few goals next week. It's there, it's in touching distance.
"It depends on the last few games of course, but it was nice to add to it today and score a couple of goals to help the team."
Bayern next host Real Madrid in the first leg of a Champions League semi-final tie on Tuesday, before travelling to face Stuttgart on Saturday.
Pochettino says VAR 'damaging' English football as Chelsea denied Villa win
Mauricio Pochettino claimed VAR is "damaging" English football after Chelsea saw a potential winning goal chalked off at the end of their 2-2 Premier League draw with Aston Villa.
Despite a bright performance, Chelsea found themselves 2-0 down at half-time on Saturday with Marc Cucurella putting through his own net before Morgan Rogers added Villa's second.
Goals from Noni Madueke and Conor Gallagher dragged Chelsea level as they penned Villa back after the break, but the Blues were enraged in stoppage time when Axel Disasi saw a potential winner ruled out.
Disasi headed home in the fifth minute of stoppage time to spark wild celebrations among the visiting Chelsea fans, only for referee Craig Pawson to disallow the goal following a pitchside VAR review, ruling Benoit Badiashile pushed Diego Carlos in the build-up.
With that incident coming just one week after Chelsea were denied a penalty in their FA Cup semi-final loss to Manchester City despite Jack Grealish appearing to handle Cole Palmer's free-kick, Pochettino has had enough.
"Everyone that was watching the game will feel disappointed. The referee said it was a foul and disallowed the goal after going to the VAR to confirm," he told TNT Sports.
"The referee is unbelievable and it's ridiculous. It is difficult to accept these types of things. In the semi-final it was handball and it was no penalty, the referee didn't check it.
"It is painful as it has damaged English football and I think Villa players and their fans didn't understand why the goal was disallowed.
"They said it was a foul and if you see the challenge… if we go into every single challenge like this and it is going to be a foul, we wouldn't finish the game with 11 players.
"We can talk about the performance or the decision – it is damaging the game."
Pochettino had no complaints about Chelsea's performance, though, as they avoided defeat for just the fourth time in 51 Premier League games when trailing by two or more goals at half-time.
The Blues previously achieved that feat in a 3-3 draw with Sheffield Wednesday in 1992, a memorable 2-2 draw with Tottenham in 2016 and another 3-3 draw with West Brom in 2020.
Chelsea racked up 21 shots to Villa's nine and put up 1.57 expected goals (xG) to the hosts' 1.1, with Nicolas Jackson and Palmer spurning glorious chances in either half.
"The performance was very good," Pochettino said. "We played really well and it is true in the first half we conceded too easily.
"To play Villa, who are fighting for the top four, I am pleased with the team. Now, we have to move on and the headlines will be about the disallowed goal."
New England Revolution 1-4 Inter Miami: Messi at the double as Herons run riot
Lionel Messi scored twice and laid on a goal for Luis Suarez as Inter Miami retained their three-point lead at the Eastern Conference summit with a 4-1 win over the New England Revolution.
A franchise-record crowd of 65,612 people witnessed a flying start from the Revs as they took the lead within just 37 seconds at Gillette Stadium. Carles Gil pounced on some sloppy play from Miami to tee up Tomas Chancalay, who lobbed Drake Callender for the opener.
However, Miami roared back with Messi leading from the front. They had a deserved equaliser just after the half-hour mark, Messi slotting home after latching onto Robert Taylor's throughball.
Messi had his second after 67 minutes, producing another composed finish after former Barcelona team-mate Sergio Busquets split the New England backline.
Messi was involved in another two goals as Miami added some gloss to the scoreline late on; his first-time shot was saved by Henrich Ravas but Benjamin Cremaschi was on hand to score on the rebound after 83 minutes, then the Argentine teed up Suarez for a curled finish five minutes later.
Miami stay three points clear of Supporters' Shield holders FC Cincinnati at the top of the East, with the Orange and Blue keeping pace by beating the Colorado Rapids 2-1 on Saturday.
Data Debrief: Messi rolls back the years
Ahead of Saturday's game, some feared Miami boss Gerardo Martino would opt to rest Messi after speaking of the risks of fielding the eight-time Ballon d'Or winner on New England's artificial pitch.
However, Messi came through 90 minutes with another mesmerising performance. He has now recorded a goal involvement in 10 straight club matches for the seventh time in his glittering career, last doing so for Barcelona between September and December in 2018.
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