What’s Charlie Adam’s issue with Xherdan Shaqiri?
It’s getting beyond personal now and just plain stupid.
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The Scottish midfielder, who used to play at Liverpool before we dumped him to Stoke City in 2012, has been slating Shaqiri ever since the Swiss departed for Anfield earlier this summer…
The pair were relegated with Stoke last term, and Adam thinks his former team-mate was to blame, either though Shaqiri scored eight goals and registered seven assists – far more than any of his team-mates.
“He’s a big player, at times he did well for us,” Adam told RTE. “But in critical situations, I felt tracking back and what we needed for the team in a relegation battle just wasn’t there.
“He has got it in him, but he probably knew we were going to get relegated, he was going to the World Cup and had this big move – this move was probably done three, four months ago. He is a match-winner, but at times it was difficult to play in the same team. The manager would let him get away with certain things.
“He might get frustrated at not playing as much as he wants – it’s how long he waits and what (manager Jurgen) Klopp does with him,” he concluded.
The thing is, Shaqiri under Klopp is not the same player as Shaqiri under Mark Hughes or Paul Lambert…
Our manager is quite simply a league above both – and the 26-year-old will know what’s expected of him when he plays for Liverpool.
There’s frankly no way he’s going to coast in our midfielder under Klopp’s guidance, and Adam is foolish to suggest as much.