Jermaine Jenas suggests Xherdan Shaqiri should be ‘fuming’

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Liverpool beat Southampton 3-0 on Saturday afternoon.

Liverpool continued their 100% start to the Premier League season as the beat Southampton 3-0 at Anfield on Saturday afternoon.

Having already seen off West Ham United, Crystal Palace, Brighton and Hove Albion, Leicester City and Tottenham Hotspur, Liverpool went into Saturday’s game having won all of their Premier League games.

A home game with Southampton appeared to be a fairly winnable matchup, and so it proved as Wesley Hoedt’s own goal from a Xherdan Shaqiri cross put Liverpool in front.

Joel Matip headed home Trent Alexander-Arnold’s cross for 2-0, and after Shaqiri hit the crossbar from a free kick, Mohamed Salah turned the rebound into the net from close range.

Liverpool are now the only team to have won every Premier League game this season after Chelsea’s 0-0 draw with West Ham United, and Jurgen Klopp’s side look unstoppable right now.

Klopp handed a first league start to winger Shaqiri following his summer move from Stoke City, playing him as an attacking midfielder with Jordan Henderson and Georginio Wijnaldum protecting the defence behind him.

Despite playing a key role in two Liverpool goals, Shaqiri was surprisingly substituted at half time, and manager Klopp suggested after the game that he wanted a more defensively solid midfield in the second half.

Now, pundit Jermaine Jenas has told BBC Match of the Day (22/09) that he thinks Shaqiri should be ‘fuming’ after being substituted at half time, as he played so well in the first half, and worried about what impact being hooked will have on the Swiss star moving forward.

“I’m not sure he got hooked, he was taken off and if it was me, I’d be fuming after putting in the display that I thought he put in in that first half,” said Jenas. “Shaqiri was given the freedom to go and play and create things, so I thought it was a good tactical move to go with an extra creative midfielder, and you can afford to do that, especially at home.”

“I thought he answered all the questions I’m sure Jurgen Klopp asked of him, he was finding little pockets of space continuously, he had the freedom of the park in the first half, popped up on the right, he popped up on the left, he linked up brilliantly with Robertson. It’s very difficult to criticise, but at the same time, what impact does that have on Shaqiri?” he added.