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The headline act at the bet365 tonight is Stoke City v Liverpool - but the sub heading could easily be Xherdan Shaqiri v Mohamed Salah. They are the two main men heading into the big clash after both scored at the weekend to underline their attacking value to their respective teams.
Shaqiri, the proverbial scorer of great goals rather than a great goalscorer, made it three for the season so far - he only scored three in his first season and four in his second - with Saturday’s exquisite individual effort at Crystal Palace. The statistics and the evidence of our own eyes suggests a step-up in performance after stepping out of Marko Arnautovic’s shadow at Stoke City. Comparing him to the fleet-footed Salah, Hughes commented: “Shaq is more of a ball manipulator rather than being a guy whose game is based solely on pace.
“He will draw people into challenges and then skip past them and then his delivery is the key thing from our point of view. “He's able to hit the right pass at the right time and create chances for us. He's doing that to a really good level at the moment, so we're pleased with what he is doing. “He's enjoying his football which is clear from his demeanour around the place as well and he's enjoying having a big influence on our attacking play. “Maybe that's a consequence of Marko leaving the club because he's taken on the mantle of being the main attacking instigator for us himself and it's working very well. “We've got other creative players as well, but Shaq is a more senior player really because he knows the Premier League and I think he's shown real leadership in terms of the group. “He's taken it on himself to really effect our attacking play in a good way, which he always tried to, but this year he's been more conscious of having to do that.” Salah, meanwhile, arrives in the Potteries with his £34m summer price tag from Roma now hanging pretty lightly around his neck.
The 25 year-old Egyptian, an international team-mate of Stoke’s Ramadan, made it 10 Premier League goals in 12 starts and one sub appearance during a blistering start to life back in England after a short stay at Chelsea. “He's hit the ground running because he's played in the Premier League before,” said Hughes. “That's an important point because for creative players it's more difficult to come in and hit the ground running. “The intensity and the physicality of the Premier League takes people aback and for creative players who are used to different leagues, where they get easier free kicks and more of them in good areas, it becomes part of their general play. “So when they come here and they don't get those, it throws them a little bit and it affects their general play.
Stoke City manager excuses Liverpool's poor defending “He's deemed exceptionally quick, which he undoubtedly is. He's at a really high level and that's why he's able to create chances himself and take chances that other people can't get on the end of. “He's not only got that quickness of foot, but speed of thought which gets him into those positions.
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