Jurgen Klopp says Dominik Szoboszlai was raving about 30-year-old Liverpool teammate’s passing vs Leicester

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Liverpool midfielder Dominik Szoboszlai was impressed with Wataru Endo’s assist for him on Wednesday night.

Szoboszlai took the headlines after the 3-1 win over Leicester City, his wonder-strike leading to praise from all corners.

But according to Jurgen Klopp, the Hungarian himself was raving about Endo. Speaking in his pre-Tottenham Hotspur press conference today, Klopp shared what Szoboszlai said to him about the Japan captain’s clever through-ball to find him.

“With all the understandable attention on Dominik’s goal, the pass was [just] as good,” said the Liverpool boss. “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 if there’s enough space for the ball between the players. That was a top, top pass, passes we missed in the past. That’s the truth as well. He played so many forward balls, it was really good.”

Szoboszlai highlights Endo role

Klopp is right to highlight Endo’s pass. With all the hubbub over Szoboszlai’s thunderous strike, the quality of the assist has been severely underrated.

This wasn’t an easy ball to play from Wataru. As Jurgen says, it had to be inch perfect to dissect a couple of Leicester players.

Having been accused of being something of a sideways and backwards merchant by some, it was satisfying to see Endo come up with such a cheeky pass.

As the manager is also right to point out, it’s the kind of cute ball that Liverpool haven’t always played in the past.

It would be wrong to erase history and say that the likes of Fabinho, Jordan Henderson and Naby Keita never played these passes. Fabinho in particular had the ability to surprise with his vision and execution.

But the fact remains that Liverpool’s new-look midfield now has many more strings to its bow. We expected that from the likes of Szoboszlai and Alexis Mac Allister, but to see it from Endo is a pleasant surprise.

Hopefully there’s even more of this to come as the 30-year-old acclimatises fully to his role in the team.