Shaqiri convinced Liverpool will respond positively to setbacks

Xherdan Shaqiri remains unfazed by Liverpool’s recent Premier League and FA Cup defeats, with a positive response expected by Jurgen Klopp’s strongest side.

Having enjoyed an unbeaten start to their English top-flight campaign and set their sights on major silverware this term, the Reds have endured a wobble of late.

A 2-1 reversal at Manchester City means they are now just four points clear of the chasing pack in the title race, while the same scoreline away at Wolves on Monday saw another trophy bid ended.

Shaqiri was among those to figure in a much-changed and very young side at Molineux, but the Switzerland international is refusing to read too much into back-to-back losses.

He told Liverpool’s official website, having seen a second-half free-kick strike the post as the Reds came unstuck against Wolves: “Of course, we are disappointed after this game because we lost, first of all, but I think we didn’t deserve this result because we tried to play football.

“We tried to come back. We tried everything until the end and you cannot say the attitude wasn’t there until the last minute. We tried everything.

“Sometimes you need luck also and the free-kick was very unlucky. I saw the ball inside already, but it never went in.

“We obviously had a lot of young players and a lot of players in who didn’t play for a long time. We wanted to win this game to go to the next round, but the FA Cup is like this: you lose the game and you are out.

“So, we close this game now and are looking forward to the weekend and the Premier League.”

Quizzed on whether Klopp’s team will need to “dig deep” in their next outing against Brighton on Saturday, Shaqiri added: “I think we have enough players who can jump in.

“This season we have the depth. There are a lot of players who are going to come in and give everything and the quality is still there.”

The depth of Liverpool’s squad was highlighted in a narrow defeat to Wolves, with teenage trio Rafa Camacho, Curtis Jones and Ki-Jana Hoever all seeing competitive minutes.

The latter was introduced early on in an FA Cup third round tie when Dejan Lovren suffered an untimely injury, and the 16-year-old impressed with a confident and mature display.

Shaqiri said of the promising Dutch defender: “He is very nice.

“He is still very young, you see that on the pitch also. He came on and he tried everything. He is going to be a very good player in the future.”