The Liverpool boss has been very Outspoken in his desire to Determine the number of Matches played reduced and will now skip the FA Cup replay against Shrewsbury
Jurgen Klopp clearly does not pay much attention to advertising campaigns.
Remember BT Sport and its 2019 attempt?
“Do not mug the cup off,” was the message from the united kingdom broadcaster, eager to hammer home the point that world soccer’s oldest club contest was relevant; something to cherish and to honor.
That point is not easy to argue now, after the news that Klopp, together with his Liverpool first-team squad, will effectively boycott the Reds’ fourth-round replay with Shrewsbury following week.
It isn’t quite Manchester United withdrawing from the contest entirely in 1999, but it’s the next best thing. This is an elite club, the seven-time winners of this contest, ready to give up their place so as to produce a point. We’re utilised to weakened teams, low audiences, awkwardly rearranged kick-off occasions and dwindling interest, but this is something completely new. It will, if Klopp goes through with his plan, be a historical moment — and surely not for the appropriate reasons.
“We won’t be there – it’ll be the children who play that game,” Klopp said after his side’s 2-2 draw in the Montgomery Waters Meadow on Sunday. When requested by Target if that meant he, also, would be missing, he responded: “Yes. Neil Critchley [the director of Liverpool’s Under-23 team] will be in charge.”
He has the backing of Fenway Sports Group, the club owners, and he was prepared to explain himself also.
“In April 2019 we have a letter in the Premier League,” he said. “They asked us to honor the winter break rather than to organise international friendlies or competitive matches. We honor that.”
The letter he describes has been delivered to all Premier League clubs and did, indeed, say that clubs should avoid scheduling matches throughout their two-week hiatus. Clubs were, according to the letter: “expected to honor and respect the underlying motive for the mid-season participant break, specifically to provide their players with a rest in the physical and mental rigours of playing games throughout the season.”
Klopp is prepared to do exactly that. “you can’t deal with us as no one cares about it,” he continued. “I understand that it’s not too popular but that is how I see it. The Premier League requested us to honor the winter break. That is what we do. If the FA does not respect that, then we can’t change it.”
Klopp has hardly concealed his distaste for the FA Cup since coming in England. The side which beat Everton earlier this month comprised five teens.
Liverpool play West Ham in the Premier League on Wednesday and then sponsor Southampton on Saturday, and they were expected to have a two-week gap before seeing Norwich on February 15. Their disappointing surrender of a two-goal lead at Shrewsbury, however, threw a spanner in the works, with the replay because of the week commencing February 3.
He also believes replays should be shelved, and has publicly questioned the logic of a two-legged Carabao Cup semi-final also. He’s already voiced his concerns to UEFA directly.
On Sunday, he said:”We must honor the players’ welfare. They need a break. They want a mental rest, a physical break, and that is exactly what the winter break is all about.
“Then another contest tells us that is not so significant, so we needed to make these decisions ahead.
International players such as Jordan Henderson, Virgil van Dijk, Gini Wijnaldum, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Mo Salah, Sadio Mane, these men, they’re never off. The players will [now] have off one week.”
The news, of course, will be met with a mixed response, both inside and out of Liverpool. There’ll be plenty, obviously, who sympathise with Klopp, and that understand his urge to prioritise. The urge for a league title tops everything, and with all the Champions League due to restart in three months’ time, there’s plenty for players and fans to get excited about. They’re certainly talented since they revealed even when defeated at the quarter-final of the Carabao Cup in Aston Villa last month.
But there’ll be others, die-hard fans included, that will wonder if this is an intense response if Liverpool are cutting off their nose to spite their face. They have not won the FA Cup because 2006 and would take some stopping this year if they took the competition seriously.
Certainly, the skeptics will ask, there’s another solution? Lots will wonder why, exactly, the supervisor should miss the game in any respect.
One only needs to return to this Carabao Cup game at Villa, really.
Had Villa not slipped off in the second half, we might have seen the largest defeat at the Reds’ history. They had been boys sent to do a man’s job, with the entire world looking on.
We know why they’re taking such a drastic course of action, but they do not necessarily need to.
Klopp could easily, by way of instance, field a team like the one that drew on Sunday. Indeed, many would argue he has first-team players, Xherdan Shaqiri, Naby Keita, Dejan Lovren, Joel Matip, Adrian, Adam Lallana, James Milner, that could do with getting some great, aggressive minutes under their belt. Klopp speaks frequently about”rhythm’, and a fixture such as this, a home tie against poor opposition, looks perfect for it. It would require, at most, two additional training sessions and would still leave 10 days to rest and recuperate before the Norwich battle, ample time, surely?
Unless there’s a dramatic change of heart, however, it appears improbable that any senior participant will feature. Curtis Jones, Neco Williams and Harvey Elliott, the talented teenage trio, may be permitted to play, together with Spanish midfielder Pedro Chirivella.
The odds of any Under-23 participant leaving on loan before the transfer window closes on Friday, Anfield sources say, are now slim at best. Critchley’s boys are essential to keep their club treble’ dream alive, some activity, given that the Under-23s have been defeated by both Oldham Accrington and, on penalties, Fleetwood from the Football League Trophy this year.
Ticket details for the Shrewsbury game ought to be released in the next 24 hours, and we can expect costs to be radically reduced awarded Klopp’s comments. If they’re not, questions can and will be requested.
In terms of Shrewsbury, they’ll head for Merseyside buoyed by an impressive showing from the first tie. For Sam Ricketts, his players and their fans, it will still be a huge night, a momentous event. “But I think everyone wanted to go to Anfield.”
The replay, Ricketts says, will let them purchase some new video analysis equipment. For his fans, it’s a rare opportunity to see one of the world’s great stadiums.
It’s only a shame that when they get there, they will probably be seeing a side that Liverpool’ in name only.
Do not mug the cup off? It is too late for that.
It has been for decades, in reality.
