Liverpool’s Cup Win Reveals Concerns for Frimpong and Endo

Liverpool moved into the fourth round of the EFL Cup on Tuesday night, but the real story at Anfield was not the scoreline. It was the pecking order. And for two senior players, that order is starting to look brutally clear.

Andoni Iraola rang the changes – ten of them – from the side that drew with Fulham at the weekend. This was supposed to be the classic cup audition, a night for squad players to elbow their way into the manager’s thoughts. Instead, it underlined who he trusts, and who he very obviously does not.

Frimpong Targeted, Not Trusted

Jeremie Frimpong got his chance at right-back, a position Iraola demands a lot from. He wants his full-backs to fly, to stretch the game, to pin opponents back. The Dutchman never really got off the ground.

With Ronald Araujo rested and watching on as the established first-choice, this was an opening for Frimpong to make a statement. He didn’t. Liverpool advanced, but their right flank looked anything but secure.

Tottenham saw it early. They went after him. Time and again, attacks rolled down his side, with Mathys Tel, Mohammed Kudus and Omar Marmoush all taking turns at isolating him. Frimpong struggled to contain them and offered little in return going the other way. For a full-back signed for £30m from Bayer Leverkusen in the summer of 2025, that’s a problem that can no longer be dressed up as “settling in”.

He has already felt the sting of criticism from the stands across this season and the last. Those grumbles are no longer isolated. Right now, inside the club and outside it, he is being spoken about as one of the weaker links in the squad.

That is not where a £30m signing is supposed to sit.

The context makes it even starker. Araujo has nailed down the right-back slot. Conor Bradley is on his way back from injury and is expected to be available again before long. And looming over all of it is the Trent Alexander-Arnold question. Liverpool have yet to find anyone who can remotely replicate what he gave them on that flank before his move to Real Madrid.

If Frimpong was meant to be part of that solution, he has a long way to go. Right now, he looks more like a stop-gap than a cornerstone.

Endo Frozen Out

If Frimpong’s night was worrying, Wataru Endo’s was worse. At least the Dutchman played.

Endo didn’t get on the pitch at all.

For a 33-year-old midfielder who cost £16m and is already out of Liverpool’s 25-man Champions League squad, this was the game that should have given him a foothold in the season. Ten changes. A home tie. Minutes scattered to youngsters. If not now, when?

Iraola instead turned to 22-year-old James McConnell and 19-year-old Trey Nyoni in midfield. Both started. Ryan Gravenberch and Dominik Szoboszlai were held back on the bench. Endo watched it all unfold from the sideline.

This is not a player being carefully managed. This is a player being overtaken.

Endo had shown his versatility in pre-season, impressing in a centre-back role against Como, hinting he might at least offer cover across the back line. That experiment has not been repeated in competitive action. On Tuesday, even with all the rotation, he was again left unused.

Iraola has not hidden the reality. Speaking recently, he admitted the traffic in Endo’s position is heavy and that others are ahead of him.

“The problem is, in front of him in his position, I have a lot of players,” the Spaniard said. “He’s competing against a lot of players because we are also giving minutes to Trey (Nyoni), Ryan (Gravenberch), Alexis (Mac Allister), Dom (Szoboszlai), players that I am selecting right now. But Wata is definitely a player that I like and for sure he will have his moments.”

The words are polite. The team sheets are ruthless.

When a manager makes ten changes, leans on teenagers, and still doesn’t find a minute for you, it sends a message that no soundbite can soften. Endo’s contract expires at the end of the season. With his route to the pitch increasingly blocked, the logic is obvious: January is Liverpool’s last realistic chance to recoup a fee.

Iraola clearly does not see him as part of the medium-term plan. Endo needs games; Liverpool need clarity in midfield. An exit in a few months’ time feels less like speculation and more like an inevitability waiting for a date.

Liverpool are through in the cup. The night belonged to the kids and the fringe players who seized their chance. For Frimpong and Endo, it may be remembered for something else entirely: the moment their Liverpool futures started to slip out of their own hands.