Jamie Carragher has asked Jurgen Klopp to consider using Xherdan Shaqiri as Liverpool continue to traverse a rough patch of form.
The Reds have dropped points against West Bromwich Albion, Newcastle United and Southampton in recent weeks, which isn’t what you’d expect of the Premier League champions.
Shaqiri was brought off the bench against the Saints and Carragher believes he should be used more often than he is at the moment.
The Swiss flyer has seen his role at Anfield diminish over time, in part because of frequent fitness concerns and because of additions to the squad like Takumi Minamino and Diogo Jota.
Carragher has pleaded with the Liverpool boss to give Shaqiri more playing time, citing the Klopp’s use of the 4-2-3-1 formation in previous seasons as a way for it to work.
“They had a spell in that [2018/19] season where they played 4-2-3-1 and Salah went through the middle and Shaqiri played a little bit from the right,” he said on Sky Sports’ MNF (via The Focus).
“Even before Jota comes back, just tweak something, take one of the midfielders out. Maybe just bringing an extra body in, flipping the system slightly.
“Salah up front, Shaqiri from the right – maybe Jota from the right (when he’s back). An extra man on the pitch who can score. [Klopp]’s done it before, they had a great run in the middle of that season. That may be something to make people think differently.”
Given the way the Reds are playing at the moment, it may not be a bad idea to mix up our attacking options to see if that clinical nature we got used to last season returns.
Shaqiri falling out-of-favour at Liverpool over the last couple of years has very little to do with his abilities, he’s world-class – Klopp knows this, so hopefully we see a lot more of the Swiss star – even if it’s from the bench.
Yunus
I agree with Jamie Carragher 100 %, it is a better option until Jota is back, Shakiri is a versatile player and physically he is a menace to defenders as well , Salah is too selfish as he takes too many touches with the ball and he does not provide opportunities for Mane & Firminho to score , which is affecting the team , Klopp must address this issue with Salah because right now he is not a team player and its costing us points .