Xherdan Shaqiri

[Guest]

Xherdan Shaqiri has opened the door on a shock return to Inter Milan in the future after reflecting on his time in Serie A.

 

The Swiss midfielder has made a steady start to life at Liverpool after sealing a summer switch from Stoke City, scoring two goals and adding two assists in nine Premier League appearances.

 

However, the 27-year-old admitted he is impressed by the growth of Serie A, and despite his miserable six-month spell at Inter, said he wouldn’t rule out a move back to the league in the future.

 

“They were a few important months,” he told Gazzetta dello Sport.

 

“I could never talk badly about it. There were many changes happening, both on and off the field.

 

“Many new players arrived and as many left in the summer, besides [Lukas] Podolski and I, [Mateo] Kovacic I think too.

 

“It wasn’t easy, especially for that reason. [Roberto] Mancini? There were no problems between us.

 

“The results weren’t great either but my experience was positive, all things considered.

 

“Milan is beautiful. I lived in the city centre, a few steps from the university, and I found myself in a wonderful place.

 

“I could never speak ill of Italy or Inter. I still remember the welcome their fans gave me on my arrival. It was crazy… unforgettable.

 

“If I could change anything, it would be the period I was there because I probably joined Inter at the wrong time.

 

“Today they’re a different club, as is the entire league. The level has increased compared to three years ago.

 

“Still, I had fun in Serie A and Italy’s an amazing country. I’m happy at Liverpool, but you can never say never in football…”

[ZonkoVille77]

Klopp needs to trust him more. 

[Guest]

8 hours ago, ZonkoVille77 said:

Klopp needs to trust him more. 

I don't really understand why he didn't start. If Coutinho was still in the team, he would have been in that team and one of the midfielders would have dropped without a doubt. So why not Shaqiri after his recent performances?

[ZonkoVille77]

32 minutes ago, Shooter in the Motor said:

I don't really understand why he didn't start. If Coutinho was still in the team, he would have been in that team and one of the midfielders would have dropped without a doubt. So why not Shaqiri after his recent performances?

 

Klopp has a bad blind spot for certain players at times. I think that might have something to do with it.

 

Henderson shouldn't have been on the pitch last night. If he played Shaq from the start with Hendo out and Lovren also out we'd have had a better chance of winning that game.

[rubble-rouser]

1 hour ago, Shooter in the Motor said:

I don't really understand why he didn't start. If Coutinho was still in the team, he would have been in that team and one of the midfielders would have dropped without a doubt. So why not Shaqiri after his recent performances?

Shaqiri isn’t at anything like Coutinho’s level so I don’t think that’s a great comparison. 

 

Most if of us would agree that Shaqiri should be getting more game time. Personally i’d have had Keita in front of Milner & Gini last night. Shaqiri has tended to be pretty good when played but there is a danger of his stock rising ridiculously high because of the poor performances of others. The only rationale for that starting XI was to sit deep and play on the break. If you do that at 0-0 surely you need to keep doing it at 1-0 until half time, and not get caught on the break against one of the quickest attacks in the world. 

[Guest]

1 minute ago, rubble-rouser said:

Shaqiri isn’t at anything like Coutinho’s level so I don’t think that’s a great comparison. 

 

Most if of us would agree that Shaqiri should be getting more game time. Personally i’d have had Keita in front of Milner & Gini last night. Shaqiri has tended to be pretty good when played but there is a danger of his stock rising ridiculously high because of the poor performances of others. The only rationale for that starting XI was to sit deep and play on the break. If you do that at 0-0 surely you need to keep doing it at 1-0 until half time, and not get caught on the break against one of the quickest attacks in the world. 

Shaqiri has been the player that has been making things happen in the last few matches. It has been noticeable when he has been taken off the pitch. 

[rubble-rouser]

38 minutes ago, Shooter in the Motor said:

Shaqiri has been the player that has been making things happen in the last few matches. It has been noticeable when he has been taken off the pitch. 

 

I agree, but to say that he has to play because Coutinho would have played is not a good comparison.  

 

 

 

[Dave D]

Coutinho was world class but certainly had his off days 

 

Shaqiri has consistently been our most creative player this season weighing in with goals and assists, good free kicks and general all round play. 

 

Strange not play him in what was seen as a must win.

 

You can bet he will play against Napoli as we need goals.

 

Id have thought the above sentence applied to all football matches, last night included   

[The Guest]

He played that midfield because we ran over them in the first tie at Anfield.  I imagine he was hoping to do exactly the same thing again.  I thought in the first game they missed Verratti massively.  He’s so good at taking the ball from the keeper and defenders under pressure and stopping the opposition press from working.  After the first few times of him collecting the ball last night you could see it was going to be a different game.  I think it’s the one thing Klopp didn’t factor in.

 

Henderson was an absolute embarrassment out there though and hopefully when Klopp reviews the game he sees how out of his depth he was.  We can’t play that midfield in the big games any more because it’s become too predictable.  The shouts for Keita to start though were borderline laughable.

[Grinch]

Coutinho In midfield in an away game against tough opposition....when the duck did that happen.   Cause I seem to recall it being that midfield, me complaining about it and then being made to look silly time and time again against decent teams.

 

usually followed up by cocking up against some shite due to their weaknesses.

 

Klopps spent 100m to improve on the trio of averageness, he’s obviously well aware but for whatever reason Fabinho and Kieta haven’t settled yet, we just need to hope they do or they’ll be a massive waste of money and we’ll have to stumble on with the midfield that secured back to back top four finishes.

[VladimirIlyich]

On 11/28/2018 at 7:19 PM, Shooter in the Motor said:

Xherdan Shaqiri has opened the door on a shock return to Inter Milan in the future after reflecting on his time in Serie A.

 

The Swiss midfielder has made a steady start to life at Liverpool after sealing a summer switch from Stoke City, scoring two goals and adding two assists in nine Premier League appearances.

 

However, the 27-year-old admitted he is impressed by the growth of Serie A, and despite his miserable six-month spell at Inter, said he wouldn’t rule out a move back to the league in the future.

 

“They were a few important months,” he told Gazzetta dello Sport.

 

“I could never talk badly about it. There were many changes happening, both on and off the field.

 

“Many new players arrived and as many left in the summer, besides [Lukas] Podolski and I, [Mateo] Kovacic I think too.

 

“It wasn’t easy, especially for that reason. [Roberto] Mancini? There were no problems between us.

 

“The results weren’t great either but my experience was positive, all things considered.

 

“Milan is beautiful. I lived in the city centre, a few steps from the university, and I found myself in a wonderful place.

 

“I could never speak ill of Italy or Inter. I still remember the welcome their fans gave me on my arrival. It was crazy… unforgettable.

 

“If I could change anything, it would be the period I was there because I probably joined Inter at the wrong time.

 

“Today they’re a different club, as is the entire league. The level has increased compared to three years ago.

 

“Still, I had fun in Serie A and Italy’s an amazing country. I’m happy at Liverpool, but you can never say never in football…”

This hints at why he's had so many clubs,eg a cunt of an agent setting up and doing interviews to pressurize the current club he's at at that time. He's running out of clubs to settle at and if he is jettisoned from both Bayern and us then he has to realise he will always be a nearly man. A rich man but a nearly man.

The truth is probably more that he wants to keep in favour with fans of a previous club.

[TheHowieLama]

He was jettisoned by Bayern? He played pretty regularly there - scored a fair few goals and won a bunch of silverware in two and a half seasons

[VladimirIlyich]

8 hours ago, TheHowieLama said:

He was jettisoned by Bayern? He played pretty regularly there - scored a fair few goals and won a bunch of silverware in two and a half seasons

He never broke into the first team as a regular and others were preferred before him. 52 games in 3 years and 11 goals is not a lot and if you don't win trophies at Bayern then there is a big problem.  The problem is either with him,eg not finding a settled role in a team or he has a twat of an agent who wants him to move regularly so he gets a nice earner each time.

[TheHowieLama]

Well they did have some quality in the midfield -- at what 21 years old, he probably played as much as Robben during that time (he was certainly quite good that first year) so not sure about the overall gist of the post -- I think it may be something you have decided is fact. There may not be a problem.

[VladimirIlyich]

1 hour ago, TheHowieLama said:

Well they did have some quality in the midfield -- at what 21 years old, he probably played as much as Robben during that time (he was certainly quite good that first year) so not sure about the overall gist of the post -- I think it may be something you have decided is fact. There may not be a problem.

My point is that he is at the stage of his career where he needs to settle and make a mark at a club,we would be ideal. But from my point of view the only concern is his frequent movement over the last few seasons and I hope this is not going to give him,or his agent,itchy feet. Why Klopp is not picking him when we need creativity is a bit of a puzzle at the moment.

[joe_fishfish]

He's not picking him because he's not good enough without the ball to play in midfield and he's not good enough with the ball to play in the front three.

 

We have to play 4-2-3-1 to get him on the pitch and while that's not a bad option against the weaker teams Klopp will never use it against the likes of PSG away.

[Aventus]

44 minutes ago, joe_fishfish said:

He's not picking him because he's not good enough without the ball to play in midfield and he's not good enough with the ball to play in the front three.

 

We have to play 4-2-3-1 to get him on the pitch and while that's not a bad option against the weaker teams Klopp will never use it against the likes of PSG away.

Maybe he should have played him. 

 

Doubt it could have gone any worse. 

[Daisy]

3 hours ago, joe_fishfish said:

He's not picking him because he's not good enough without the ball to play in midfield and he's not good enough with the ball to play in the front three.

 

We have to play 4-2-3-1 to get him on the pitch and while that's not a bad option against the weaker teams Klopp will never use it against the likes of PSG away.

Have you seen the front 3 with the ball this season? 

[VladimirIlyich]

3 hours ago, joe_fishfish said:

He's not picking him because he's not good enough without the ball to play in midfield and he's not good enough with the ball to play in the front three.

 

We have to play 4-2-3-1 to get him on the pitch and while that's not a bad option against the weaker teams Klopp will never use it against the likes of PSG away.

Yet we score more fequently with him and our front three on the pitch? We needed a couple of goals on Wednesday and all we got was a penalty and hardly a shot on target.

[The Guest]

Needs a bump because he’s a fucking legend.  Somebody post the GIF.

[Guest]

5 minutes ago, The Guest said:

Needs a bump because he’s a fucking legend.  Somebody post the GIF.

 

[Bobby Hundreds]

I like the one with jim Carrey and whoever the other fuckers are

[Aventus]

[Vincent Vega]

I think this might be aimed at you Anubis.

 

 

[Anubis]

He just wants to hear me call him Weeble.