Liverpool are safely into the fourth round of the EFL Cup. The scoreline and the occasion at Anfield on Tuesday night will please Andoni Iraola on paper. The performance of a few of his squad players, though, told a very different story.
The Spanish coach ripped up his weekend XI, making 10 changes from the side that drew with Fulham. This was a classic cup-night experiment: fringe players, academy prospects, reputations on the line under the lights.
Tottenham arrived, but the real scrutiny fell on Liverpool’s depth.
Frimpong Exposed on a Trial Night
Trey Nyoni, James McConnell and Lewis Koumas all earned rare starts, a nod to the club’s faith in its youth. At right-back, Jeremie Frimpong got the kind of opportunity that can reset a season.
He did not take it.
Iraola’s football depends on full-backs who can surge, combine, and stretch games. Frimpong, signed for £30m from Bayer Leverkusen in the summer of 2025, was supposed to fit that profile perfectly. Instead, he offered almost nothing going forward and looked increasingly vulnerable without the ball.
Tottenham quickly sensed a weak point. They kept sending traffic his way. Mathys Tel, Mohammed Kudus and Omar Marmoush all took turns isolating him, and too often they got joy. For 90 minutes, his flank felt like an invitation.
This was not an isolated off-night either. Frimpong has struggled to convince in a Liverpool shirt since he arrived, and sections of the fanbase have not been shy in voicing their frustration, both this season and last. On current evidence, the judgment is harsh but simple: he is viewed as one of the squad’s weakest links.
The contrast is brutal. Ronald Araujo has clearly established himself as Iraola’s first-choice right-back. Conor Bradley is on his way back from injury and expected to return to the rotation before long. Frimpong, meanwhile, looks stuck between roles and below standard in both.
For Liverpool, the bigger issue looms in the background. The club still has not replaced what Trent Alexander-Arnold once brought on that side before his move to Real Madrid. If Frimpong was supposed to be part of that solution, nights like this only reinforce the sense that another first-choice right-back will be needed.
The Dutchman has time left on his contract, but not much patience left in the stands. If he wants a future at Anfield, the improvement cannot wait.
Endo Frozen Out
If Frimpong’s evening was worrying, Wataru Endo’s was even more telling – and he did not play a single minute.
The 33-year-old midfielder watched the entire tie from the bench, unused again. He had already been left out of Liverpool’s 25-man Champions League squad last week, alongside Federico Chiesa, while youngsters like McConnell and Nyoni were preferred.
This cup tie felt tailor-made for him. Ten changes to the starting XI. A home crowd. A competition that often serves as a platform for squad players to stay relevant. Yet when Iraola shuffled his pack, Endo stayed on the fringes.
McConnell, 22, and Nyoni, 19, both started in midfield. Ryan Gravenberch and Dominik Szoboszlai began on the bench but still sat ahead of Endo in the manager’s thinking. Even the option of using him in defence, where he impressed at centre-back against Como in pre-season, never came into play.
Iraola has not tried to hide the reality of the situation. He has openly acknowledged that Endo sits behind a long list of options in his position.
“The problem is, in front of him in his position, I have a lot of players,” he said recently, name-checking Nyoni, Gravenberch, Alexis Mac Allister and Szoboszlai as those currently getting the nod. He added that Endo is a player he likes and that “for sure he will have his moments.”
Yet nights like this cut through that optimism. If a 16 million-pound signing cannot get on the pitch when the manager makes wholesale changes and leans heavily on youth, when exactly will those “moments” arrive?
Endo’s contract expires at the end of the season. With so many midfielders clearly ahead of him, the logic is stark. Liverpool’s last realistic chance to recoup any fee comes in January. Every team sheet, every unused-sub appearance, nudges that scenario closer.
Iraola’s selection calls against Tottenham felt less like rotation and more like a verdict. Frimpong still has time to repair his standing. Endo, by contrast, looks to be approaching the end of a short and quiet Liverpool chapter – and the club may soon decide it is in everyone’s best interests to turn the page.
