Liverpool have beaten Shrewsbury 4-1 in the FA Cup. That may not sound like much of an achievement – Premier League stars brush aside League One minnows – but once again the Reds showed the quality of the young players the Youth Academy has been nurturing.
Max Woltman and Melkamu Frauendorf made their debuts in a much-changed team, with players absent because of Covid and others heading off to the Africa Cup of Nations. Jurgen Klopp prefers to work with a smaller, tight-knit first-team squad and the result of that is that youngsters are required to step up in times just like this.
It wasn’t all plain sailing. The visitors took the lead, prompting the usual kneejerk suspects on social media to don their Football Manager hats and claim that Klopp had got it wrong.
Over the course of the game the Reds showed their talents, Takumi Minamino and Roberto Firmino came on off the bench to provide added experience in midfield and attack respectively, and the match was won comfortably in the end. Job done.
The only negative to take away from the game was the truly embarrassing comments by online fans who claim to support Liverpool that I won’t repeat here, but who were made to look more and more foolish as the match progressed.
Hopefully, they have all now crawled under their rocks, until the next round of the Cup at least, when I’m sure their amnesia will have taken effect and they will be back to criticise the team chosen to face Cardiff City.
Adam Bryant
