Stoke City midfielder Xherdan Shaqiri has pledged his commitment to new manager Paul Lambert.

Shaqiri's mentor at Switzerland, Ottmar Hitzfeld, had been Lambert's at Borussia Dortmund, back in 1997 when they won the Champions League.

He said: “I know he played under Ottmar Hitzfeld. Actually I didn't know that before… but I know it now! They won the Champions League together and I've spoken with the gaffer about that already.

“I've had a few conversations with him and I'm really happy he's here. It's a new chapter for the club and it's exciting.

“We've done a lot of work already. As a player you know exactly what he wants. He said to everyone what they need to do."

He added: “Of course a new manager changes things and I think you could see that from how we played against Huddersfield. It was totally different on the pitch. We communicated a lot, we pressed really high and the defenders stayed high."