“Responsibility was obviously on him”: Mark Hughes takes aim at current Liverpool player | OneFootball

Before Xherdan Shaqiri signed with Liverpool back in the summer of 2018, he played under Mark Hughes at Stoke City.

Therefore, Hughes knows Shaqiri reasonably well. However, Hughes’ latest comments do suggest that he is not a huge fan of the Swiss international.

Hughes said that Shaqiri did not enjoy the responsibility of winning matches for Stoke City. With that being the case, Hughes implied that Shaqiri enjoys being a squad player at a club like Liverpool because he does not have to be the main man.

“Shaq is a great kid in as much as he’s a talented boy and he wants to do well,” said Hughes, as quoted by StokeOnTrent Live.

“His ability on free-kicks and set plays everybody has seen in recent times.

“At times I think at Stoke, the onus and responsibility was obviously on him to win us games. That was more difficult on occasions for Stoke.

“At times I think that responsibility was something that he wasn’t prepared to take on.

“I think he enjoys being at top clubs, he’s been at Bayern Munich, Inter Milan and Liverpool, but he seems to acquire a similar role.

“He seems quite comfortable in that role of just playing a couple of games and then going out of the team. That demand of having to play well week in, week out is something that he doesn’t enjoy.”

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ANFIELD WATCH VERDICT

There is no denying that Shaqiri is nothing more than a squad player at Liverpool. The Swiss international has only made 63 appearances for the club in three years.

However, we don’t buy into this idea that Shaqiri isn’t prepared to take on the responsibility of wining his team a game of football.

Back in 2018, Liverpool welcomed Manchester United to Anfield. The game was level at 1-1 late in the second half.

Shaqiri came on as a substitute and scored two goals. Liverpool won the match 3-1 as a result.