SHAQIRI IS STOKE’S LITTLE MASTER
XHERDAN SHAQIRI has been Stoke’s main man in their past few games. A lot of their skilful players, such as Bojan Krkic and Marko Arnautovic, have left but he has thrived on this pressure. I was in that situation at Southampton, when you’re in a tight spot and you need your characters. You need someone who will always accept the ball and try to make things happen. That man at Stoke is little Shaq. He scored a quality goal against Leicester and deserved it. As for Paul Lambert, I remember seeing him at Aston Villa a few years ago and thinking he looked like he had fallen out of love with football. On Saturday, he reminded me a little of Antonio Conte on the touchline. He’s got his enthusiasm back.