Liverpool have a chance to progress to the FA Cup fifth round for the first time since the 2014/15 when they host Shrewsbury Town in the fourth round replay at Anfield on Tuesday. After a 2-2 draw between the sides at New Meadow 9 days ago, the Reds will be relying on a young eleven if they are to get past their League One opponents.
With Jurgen Klopp and his first-team squad on their winter break, the task of seeing Liverpool through to the next round falls upon U23 manager Neil Critchley and his boys. Having been beaten 5-0 by Aston Villa in December while the first-team was in Qatar for the FIFA Club World Cup, expectations on the young Reds are understandably low.
Critchley’s men currently sit in 6th place in the Premier League 2 Division 1, exactly mid-table in a 12 team league that has been dominated by Chelsea this season. Mixed results have seen the Reds win 6, draw 5 and lose 5 so far this campaign while also crashing out of the Leasing.com Trophy in the group stage.
During their short EFL Trophy run, Critchley’s side lost to League One Accrington Stanley and League Two Oldham Athletic while drawing with Fleetwood Town. While the young Reds ultimately lost the penalty shootout to Fleetwood as well, the Trawlermen currently sit 7 places above Shrewsbury which will give Critchley some hope of getting a result.
Meanwhile, Sam Ricketts’ men have continued their poor run in League One since their stirring comeback against the Reds and are still yet to win in the league in 2020. While the Shrews still find themselves in 16th place, defeats to Gillingham and Rochdale, both sides around them in the league table, should be cause for concern.
Of course, it is worth noting that the Shrews were well worthy of their 2-2 draw in the original tie against Klopp’s men and looked the more likely side to win for much of the second half. Jason Cummings’ brace forced the tie back to Anfield where Shrewsbury will likely be unperturbed by the young Liverpool eleven they will face.
The prize for the winner on Tuesday night is a fifth round tie at Stamford Bridge against Frank Lampard’s Chelsea on Thursday, 5 March. That game would come less than a week before the second leg of the Reds’ Champions League Round of 16 tie with Atletico Madrid, an unwelcome distraction Klopp may rather avoid.
If the Reds do make it through to the next round, the German would likely field another heavily changed side with the FA Cup a distant third priority this season. Meanwhile, for Shrewsbury, consecutive FA Cup ties away at Anfield and Stamford Bridge could set them up financially for the foreseeable future.
Team News
With the entirety of Klopp’s first-team enjoying a well-earned and much-needed break, only Pedro Chirivella, Curtis Jones, Harvey Elliott, Neco Williams and Yasser Larouci are likely to retain their places from the first game against the Shrews. Of that group, Larouci is a doubt having sustained a knock last weekend but should start provided the Algerian passes his late fitness test.
That leave 6 places in the eleven to fill, with Carabao Cup regular Caoimhin Kelleher likely to start in goal ahead of a promising Dutch centre-back combination of Sepp van den Berg and Ki-Jana Hoever. Further forward, Elijah Dixon-Bonner and Leighton Clarkson are among those in contention to feature alongside Chirivella and Jones in midfield.
Finally, Joe Hardy, signed earlier this month from Brentford, has already made an impression for the U23s and could make his professional debut alongside Elliott and Liam Millar, who himself recently returned from a loan spell with Kilmarnock. While Chirivella captained the young Reds against Villa in December, 19-year-old Jones is the regular U23 captain and would become the Reds youngest ever leader if given the armband at Anfield.
For the Shrews, Ricketts’ has no fresh injury concerns to deal with and will pick close to a full-strength line-up with the incentive of another lucrative away tie on the horizon. Cummings, the hero 9 days ago, started for Shrewsbury at the weekend in the 1-0 loss to Rochdale and will feel he did enough at New Meadow to earn a start here.
Otherwise, expect Ricketts’ to go with a similar side to the one that frustrated the Reds and were only denied a winner on the night by some outstanding work from Adrian in goal. The Shrews back 5 on the night did a fantastic job of frustrating a strong Liverpool eleven and will fancy their chances of repeating the trick against the kids.
Prediction
While Liverpool’s youngster will be eager to impress on a rare occasion to represent the first-team, there is no sugar-coating the size of the task facing Critchley’s men. Despite playing well for the opening 10 minutes against Villa, the U23s were unable to cope with the size and physicality of the grown men they came up against with a similar scenario likely on Tuesday night.
Add into the equation that the Reds would probably rather not have to deal with the FA Cup while it is a vital income source for the Shrews, it is hard to see any other result than a Shrewsbury victory. I don’t think the kids will be embarrassed to the tune of 5-0 again though – I’ll go for a much more respectable 2-1 victory for Ricketts’ men that will give both sides what they wanted.
The Anfield Chronicle 