Mark Hughes believes Stoke City's careful management of star forward Bojan Krkic holds the Spanish striker in good stead for the second half of the Premier League campaign.
Stoke travels to Tony Pulis' West Brom on Saturday, and Hughes said resting Bojan for the latter stages of his team's thrilling 4-3 win over Everton should ensure he is fit for the trip.
"He had just played 90 minutes (two days earlier against Manchester United) and he's just come back from that injury," Hughes told the Stoke Sentinel.
"So we didn't want him to get to a point where he was really tiring because that's when you can compromise yourself.
"But it's still good for his confidence to know that he can now play in back-to-back games like that and come out sound the other end."
Hughes has a stunning array of attacking talent at his disposal for the match against former Stoke boss Tony Pulis' West Brom, but seeing Xherdan Shaqiri score in the outing against Everton was particularly pleasing.
"We knew it would take a bit of time for Shaq, because he was coming to a new league to play with new players and probably a new way of playing as well," Hughes said.
"But in recent weeks he's got to grips with what we are asking of him and is really putting in a shift for us.
"The only thing missing was goals and attempts on goal, but he's been adding that and the goals against Everton complete the circle really."
