Some of us weren't in doubt about this
Players play to the level that's demanded of them, or they fail. Shaqiri hadn't had any demands on him at Stoke for workrate, but he put in the yards for Switzerland whenever I saw him. Plus, he's build for power, but aerobic conditioning is probably the easiest thing to improve, so he was always liable to prove the doubters wrong on that score, once he was placed under the physical demands of a Klopp team
Don’t get me wrong, Shaqiri is playing far better than I thought he would, happy to wipe the egg off my face and put my hand up on that one.
But I’d point out the following:
- This was the 1st game he’s played 90 this season under Klopp
- 90 was practically forced by an injury and 2 subs chasing the game
- We had something like 75% possession
- We aren’t nearly as aggressive pressing this season
- He’s not played a lot of consecutive games that would cause cumulative fatigue
Are any of those points above wrong? I’ll concede his “great stamina when I see 3-4 consecutive starts without subs, particular if it’s high energy type games that we’ve seen against top opposition.