SHAQ’S A CLASS ACT

Happy Hughes hails X-factor

XHERDAN SHAQIRI is no great goalscorer according to Mark Hughes – and the Stoke boss should know.

After all, he wasn’t exactly prolific during his own illustrious career but, just like his Swiss magician, when Hughes did find the net it was usually memorable.

Shaqiri is gradually assembling a collection to match his manager’s gems.

“Shaq’s scored a couple of volleys a bit like mine and when he does score, they are usually top quality,” said Hughes.

“I was never a great goalscorer but everybody said I was a scorer of great goals and I guess the same can be said about him.”

Even for a player who specialises in the spectacular, Shaqiri will remember his opener against a ragged Hull side for a long time.

Cutting in from the right, he checked to go wide, creating time and space for himself to pull the trigger and unleash an unstoppable shot which flew into the top corner of David Marshall’s net.

And his second, a wonderfully placed curling free-kick just after half-time was almost as impressive.

Such is Shaqiri’s dead ball prowess, Hughes predicted a goal from the moment the set-piece was awarded.

That’s now three for the season, equalling last year’s total.

But before anyone hurriedly changes their fantasy league team to include him, he has a message. “You must remember I’m not a striker but a midfielder, and I won’t score as many goals as a striker,” he said.

“I never go into a game thinking I must score. I go into it thinking I must play well and help my team-mates.

Gamble

“I don’t know why I score all these beautiful goals and I will definitely watch these two again.

“I know I have the quality to shoot well and I am a player who is prepared to take a risk and gamble.

“If I see the space, I will shoot from anywhere and when you score one goal like that, it gives you the confidence to try again.”

Goals are, of course, the most effective way of spreading joy but for an artist like Shaqiri, it’s clear he takes as much pleasure from the 40-yard pass which falls at a team-mate’s feet or a through ball that bisects a defence.

He produced the lot against Hull and had Marshall not been the one Hull player to put up any kind of resistance, the scoreline would have been more emphatic.

Confidence is something Hull left behind in August. They now look like the ramshackle outfit many expected them to be and their own fans feared.

The fact Mike Phelan has lost six staff and is working without an assistant – a situation he hopes will be rectified in the coming days – sums up the mess they are in.

“Maybe all of us were carried away by the start we had but now reality has come about and we have to understand it’s going to be difficult,” he said.

Hull have slumped from top of the table to 18th and Ahmed Elmohamady added: “We have to realise the position we’re now in and maybe work harder in training to get ourselves back.”

HULL ......... 0 STOKE ....... 2