Liverpool left itself with plenty to do in the Carabao Cup semi-final against Spurs midweek but then made light work of Accrington Stanley in the FA Cup. Arne Slot made eight changes at Anfield, completely leaving out several big names, but saw his side win 4-0.

Sixteen-year-old Rio Ngumoha, naturally, took the headlines with an eye-catching display, while Federico Chiesa scored his first goal for Liverpool, and Jayden Danns offered a reminder of what he can do off the bench. For the likes of Harvey Elliott, making his first start of the campaign, and Dominik Szoboszlai, who got 45 minutes on his way back from illness, it was a vital runout.

Wataru Endo, though, was arguably also one of those to benefit not just from the Accrington game but the Spurs one as well, taking the two fixtures as a pair. Playing an unfamiliar role — at least at Liverpool — he showed himself to be more than capable of filling in.

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Clearly, the Accrington game comes with the substantial caveat of there being 86 places between the teams in the league standings heading into the fixture. The League Two outfit was never going to be putting Endo under huge pressure.

But he performed well in the center-back position against Spurs too, who have Dominic Solanke, Son Heung-min, Brennan Johnson, and Lucas Bergvall, to name just four. Bergvall's late goal came when Endo had moved into midfield.

Ibrahima Konate, Liverpool will hope, can come back to his 100 per cent level quickly. Jarell Quansah is another option and while he looked nervous against Spurs, he went off ill there and seemed much calmer this weekend.

Liverpool is not exactly brimming with defensive, though, with Joe Gomez missing and so many games coming. And Endo is not really featuring in his favored midfield berth, so he might as well bolster the ranks elsewhere.

It makes sense that, on occasion, he might be utilized in the center-back position, where he played a lot in his younger days. Though he hasn't done much for Liverpool, he could certainly slot in there — as could most players if they are playing alongside Virgil van Dijk.

The desire for Liverpool to sign another center-back gained some traction midweek — perhaps in part before Quansah's apparent injury turned out only to be sickness — but the reality is that would be tough. Who would come in knowing that they possibly wouldn't even get on the bench when everyone is fit?

Gomez, for instance, found that in the first few weeks of the season when there was only one game per week, he wasn't making the matchday squad. That was with four center-backs.

If Endo is capable of moving back there, though, which the last couple of games — and much more so Spurs because of the quality of the opponent — have suggested, that would be an effective back-up solution. Yes, it would require Ryan Gravenberch to continue playing almost every minute that matters as the number six, but that is what Slot has been doing anyway.