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Liverpool Echo
Liverpool Echo
Sport
Theo Squires

'Same with Barcelona' - Xherdan Shaqiri urges Jurgen Klopp to make one big Liverpool change

Xherdan Shaqiri has urged Jurgen Klopp to change Liverpool’s formation to help the Reds salvage their season.

Barring a few matches in the Autumn when injuries and poor form forced the German’s hand, Klopp has stuck with his tried and trusted 4-3-3 system this season as Liverpool continue to endure a disappointing campaign.

Out of both domestic cups and on the verge of Champions League elimination, a four-game unbeaten run in the Premier League has at least seen the Reds climb to sixth in the table. They still have a six-point deficit to make up on the top four, however.

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And former Liverpool midfielder Shaqiri believes clubs have worked out how to play against the Reds, and thinks a change of system could help them get back to their best. But comparing their current plight to Barcelona, the Switzerland international is confident Klopp will get the Reds back on top.

“This is a normal process in football that can happen,” he told reporters when speaking ahead of current club Chicago Fire’s MLS opener against New York City. “Especially this season, you can see that Liverpool is maybe not in their best form. They are struggling a bit with performances.

“I’m a bit far now from what’s going on there so it’s a bit difficult. I see just maybe they are playing the same football many years, and the other teams are getting better, too.

“So they analyse the team and probably they need, maybe, to change their formation sometimes, because I think Liverpool didn’t play many, many formations, and they played a long time with the same formation.

“Yeah, maybe they (opposing teams) now know how to play against Liverpool, and this was the same with Barcelona with the tiki-taka. Every football at one time, you know, they (learned) how to play against it.

“So maybe they have to change a bit. But I am too far, like I said before, to say my opinion because I am now gone from there and I don’t know what really happens there at the moment.

“But I’m pretty sure Jurgen [Klopp] is going to turn this around, and they know what they are doing and I’m pretty sure as soon as possible they are going to be back at the top.”

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