Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool are being linked with the “lazy” attacker.
Gary Neville has ripped into the “lazy” Xherdan Shaqiri, who is linked with moves to Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool this summer.
Shaqiri’s Switzerland held Brazil to a 1-1 draw in their World Cup opener in Rostov.
But the reported Tottenham and Liverpool target didn’t cover himself in glory, it must be said.
Newly-signed Arsenal defender Stephan Lichtsteiner came in for criticism after struggling against some of the Selecao’s heavy-hitters, but Neville reckons that the Stoke City attacker deserves a bit of stick for not offering his team-mate enough protection.
“I feel sorry for Lichtsteiner, the right-back,” he told ITV Sport. “You’ve got Marcelo, Coutinho and Neymar down that side and then you’ve got Shaqiri in front.
“We talked before the game: Shaqiri is lazy. There’s no other word for him. He will not run back and Lichtsteiner has got a massive job on his hands to contain them and he is not doing that at times.”
If you’re a Tottenham or Liverpool fan then perhaps there is reason to be concerned.
Both Mauricio Pochettino and Jurgen Klopp demand rigourous off-the-ball work and the fact that Shaqiri didn’t look bothered for large spells of yesterday’s stalemate makes you wonder whether the two Premier League managers might be having second thoughts.
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