Jürgen Klopp: I was really happy with Shaqiri's impact
Jürgen Klopp praised Xherdan Shaqiri's display after the No.23 came back into the starting XI against Manchester United on Sunday.
Shaqiri was named in Liverpool’s line-up for a Premier League match for the first time since December 2019, having been sidelined with injuries on several occasions during 2020.
The Switzerland international played 76 minutes of the goalless draw with United at Anfield and impressed the manager with his contributions.
Asked about the positives to take from individual performances on the afternoon, including the partnership of Jordan Henderson and Fabinho at the back and Shaqiri in midfield, Klopp told Liverpoolfc.com: “We used that [the centre-halves] really well.
“Against a team like United you have to play football, and really flexibly, because if you always play the obvious pass then they are there, defend it and counter-attack. And the boys did really well, I liked it a lot; a six and an eight in the centre-half position. That was just good.
“Shaq is in a really good shape. He maybe could have played a little bit longer but I was not sure, it’s just a long time not playing. But he was really good, especially the first half an hour Shaq was really there. That helped massively. I was really happy about that.
“A lot of really good individual performances. When you think about the last two games, especially this was a massive improvement and that’s important obviously. That was much more us, if not completely us, and so I’m fine with that. And now we keep going.”