OPINION
Danny Murphy revealed he was baffled by how little Jurgen Klopp utilises Liverpool attacker Xherdan Shaqiri and claimed the player definitely has the ability to rack up more minutes.
The former Reds midfielder stated that the 27-year-old winger seemed to do well in the first half of last season before disappearing in order to end up on the fringes of Klopp’s squad.
Murphy seemed so confused by Shaqiri’s lack of playing time that he suggested that there must have been some incident behind the scenes involving the player and Klopp.
“For example, they brought Shaqiri in, who I don’t think expected to play every game, and he actually in the first half of the season contributed well, then he disappeared!” said Murphy on talkSPORT (9:06am, Tuesday, September 17th).
“I don’t know why, I don’t know what happened behind-the-scenes…well maybe Shaqiri he could play more minutes as he has the ability for me, but I don’t know if something has happened with him and Klopp as in the second half of the season he didn’t really play at all.
“He became really… he was on the fringes for a long time, but we’ll see.”
Shaqiri has only featured for 11 minutes in the Premier League this season, with him making cameo appearances in the wins over Burnley and Newcastle United. (Source: WhoScored)
In his brief outings, the 27-year-old has averaged 0.5 shots per game and maintained a pass completion rating of 94.8% but given that he hasn’t had many minutes to impress, it’s hard to judge him on those appearances.
Last season, Shaqiri managed to contribute six goals and three assists across his 23 league outings, 13 of those appearances saw him come off the bench to feature, and he seemed to be a livewire whenever on the pitch.
This is shown by the fact the 27-year-old averaged 1.1 shot per game. (Source: WhoScored)
Shaqiri only featured in three of the Reds’ last 11 league games of the 2018/19 season, and it’s hard to see why that was the case, given he proved to be useful when he did feature.
When you consider that the winger didn’t go away on international duty with Switzerland recently as he wanted to focus on club football, as confirmed by Switzerland on Twitter, it doesn’t imply he has a bad attitude which would rub Klopp the wrong way.
So it really is baffling how he has fallen down the pecking order.
However, perhaps Klopp has a plan regarding Shaqiri and he will soon be utilised more in the near future as it’s clear Murphy probably isn’t the only one baffled over how limited the winger’s playing time is.
