Almost all of his minutes last season came when Klopp switched to 4-2-3-1 from October to January last year.
In a 4-3-3, he's sort of caught in a halfway house. He doesn't have the pace to play wide forward in the front 3 and he doesnt have the tactical discipline to play in a midfield 3.
So unless there's another formation change this season or injuries, I don't see where his game time comes.
He has as much and as little as Firmino, depending on whether you think Firmino is slow or fast.
And tactical indiscipline is tactical indiscipline either way, regardless of formation
And we play a 1-4-2-3-1 shape most games anyway, so it's more a matter of what his defined role is. Our shape changes according to the lineup. It's quite adaptable from game to game, which is great as it stops the opposition from planning properly for how we'll play.
I think Klopp just likes having his best team together as much as possible, and that doesn't include Shaq for now. When it comes to like-for-like subs, I don't know where Shaqiri fits in as a like-for-like replacement. Maybe Ox, but he's fit and raring to go, and has Henderson and Gini in front of him. I think Firmino is the closest to technical skills, but he A) has a much higher work rate, and B) is rarely injured, and when we need to replace him tactically, it usually means we're bringing on Origi as a target to change the game up.
However, we'll see once the Champions League starts. We'll have to do some rotating, so we'll have our answers then.
