On Saturday night, Liverpool faced Manchester United in their pre-season tour and whilst the two club’s preseason’s couldn’t be going more differently, the game was still one that the fans were excited for. Liverpool smashed their Mancunian rivals 4-1 in Michigan, where Xherdan Shaqiri scored a superb goal on his Reds debut.
So can Shaqiri become a regular, viable option as a running, central no.8 in Klopp's 4-3-3?
— Empire of the Kop (@empireofthekop) July 30, 2018
The beauty of Shaqiri is not only that he’s a livewire who scores great goals, but he’s also versatile. In his time at Bayern Munich, Inter Milan and Stoke City he’s played both off the left and the right and through the middle of the club’s attacking midfield options. This makes him a great coup for Jurgen Klopp as he could easily fil in for any of Sadio Mane, Mo Salah, Roberto Firmino or any of the club’s central midfield options.
The question that Liverpool fans have been asking is whether or not their new man can fill into a new role as a number 8 the club’s midfield. It looks likely that Klopp will elect to play a 4-3-3 system but considering the club’s options, it would come as no shock to the Merseysiders switch through other systems, with a 4-2-3-1 and a 4-4-2 also viable options for the club in the upcoming season.
You can read the Kopites’ verdict on Shaqiri in the 8 role here:
https://twitter.com/Dr_ZaidSh/status/1023836740216397829
Different players against different opposition makes sense… opposing managers have known are potential starting 11 last few seasons, knowing who the midfield 3 is gunna be out of Henderson, keita, Fabinho, lallana, wijnaldum, Milner, shaqiri, oxlade is gunna be a nice problem
— Mark (@SmiggoM) July 30, 2018
Shaqiri will play Oxlade role.
— 𝐚𝐟 (@baldhit) July 30, 2018
I think he may shock a lot of people with how good he is this season. Can see him out performing a lot of players valued at 10x more. I could see him as a regular
— Andrew Walker (@bigboithebard) July 30, 2018
https://twitter.com/SteRannard/status/1023833730329272320
https://twitter.com/BrilliantBrende/status/1023878318486179841
No. Let's not get carried away with Shaqiri. Will be an impact player from subs bench at most. Can add something different from tight games.
— Kamran Babar (@Kambabar) July 30, 2018
As you can see, the fans don’t know where Shaqiri will fit but they’ll be looking forward to see how Klopp uses him in the new season.
