Shaqiri enjoying creative freedom at Stoke

Xherdan Shaqiri has urged Stoke boss Mark Hughes to stick with his new offensive tactics over the Christmas period following back-to-back victories.

After a disastrous start to the season, which saw Stoke lose four of their first five games, the Potters have climbed into the top half following a run of five wins in seven.

Hughes adopted a 3-4-3 formation against Watford two weeks ago due to an injury-ravaged defence, and it has paid dividends with two wins and two clean sheets.

Photo by Matthew Lewis/Getty Images

And Shaqiri, who normally plays on the right wing for Stoke, is excelling in a freer role and hopes Hughes does not revert to his favoured 4-2-3-1 as they gear up for a tough festive period – which includes away games at Arsenal, Liverpool and Chelsea.

“I hope we can carry on as we’ve been doing. I’m very happy at the moment,” he said.

“You’re more free. You can stay more in the middle and you can go outside. I like it.

“I think at the moment the whole team is playing well and when you’re performing well and picking up results you don’t need to change the system.

“When you have more freedom you can change positions and I can link up with Marko [Arnautovic]. Also defensively we have a very compact team and that’s very important.”