Liverpool avoids upset against Shrewsbury Town to march into the fourth round of FA Cup

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Liverpool avoids upset against Shrewsbury Town to march into the fourth round of FA Cup

Liverpool were up against League One outfit Shrewsbury Town at Anfield on Sunday afternoon for the third round of FA Cup clash.

Liverpool manager Klopp was back in the dugout after completion of his isolation period due to Covid.

Jurgen Klopp field a youthful squad, given the home squad trouble with the Covid19 outbreak and injuries.

Shrewsbury Town knew that they can cause lots of problems to the home side given the circumstances. The Shrews silenced the Anfield crowd to take a shock lead at the 27th minute. Shrews forward Udoh smashes a strike past Kelleher from close range.

But the youngsters of Liverpool were out there to put up an impressive show. In the 34th minute 17-year-old, right-winger Kaide Gordon’s cute finish from Right-back Conor Bradley’s inch-perfect cross made it 1-1.

The goal marked his first senior goal for Liverpool and in doing so he became the second-youngest Liverpool goalscorer.

Moreover, just before the break midfielder Fabinho made it 2-1 from the penalty spot to head into the break.

After the break, it was the same story for Shrewsbury. The Salops gave everything on the pitch but were unable to come on level terms. In the meantime, Firmino made it 3-1 on the 77th minute with a cheeky backheel. The goal brought relieved for the home fans as well as for Klopp.

The visitors kept Liverpool on the edge and were dangerous on the break. The Shrews duo of Udoh and Ryan Bowman were causing the problems in the final third. 

In the injury period of the game, Fabinho was on the scoresheet again. A brace for Brazilian which is actually a very usual sighting.

The Reds end the game with a flourish as Liverpool progress to the 4th round of the competition.

At the full time, it’s a harsh result for The Shrews. It ends Liverpool 4-1 Shrewsbury.

Liverpool vs Shrewsbury Town: Post match reaction

Klopp speaks on how ‘difficult’ a week it has been

Very, very difficult for different reasons. So, this was the team we could line up today and the boys did really well in a difficult game, which became even more difficult when we conceded for 1-0.

So, I am just happy about the result, happy about that we went through and about a lot of things – that Taki trained only twice now after his injury, actually rather still part of the rehab the game today than a real game. Then Bobby came back only yesterday for training and played now in the game and scored as well.

When asked about whether Liverpool had to ‘do a headcount’ for the game to see who was available.

Not today, in the last few days of course. The situation is just like this: we had, how we thought last week, a proper outbreak and it showed up that we had a lot of false positives, actually.

Klopp reacts to the displays of Gordon and Conor Bradley on the right-hand side

I am delighted, even when I know they both can do so much better because they are real talents.

Conor can play how good he could be and can be in the future. And Kaide obviously finishing-wise he’s an adult, his finishing is really exceptional, but all the rest he is still a kid.

Klopp’s reaction to Gordon’s ‘calm’ finish in the first half.

That’s Kaide, that’s Kaide. That he is in these situations really calm, I will not say that for the rest of his career in these situations he will always score, but I’m pretty sure more often than not because that’s just him.

Lastly, Klopp speaks on Takumi Minamino’s recent injury and how ‘crucial’ the coming weeks could be for him with Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane away at AFCON.

Taki was injured, so that’s all. Nothing serious but serious enough that he couldn’t play, so that’s how it is.

But he is back and very important for us, very, very important – especially when we have a lot of games coming up and, how we all know, that two of our main guys up front are not here.

What’s next for Liverpool?

Liverpool will next face Arsenal for the first leg tie of the EFL Cup semifinals. A home game at Anfield on Thursday at 7:45 p.m GMT, which was supposed to be the 2nd leg game earlier.

Previously, EFL accepted Liverpool’s request for the postponement of the actual first leg fixture at Emirates due to escalating numbers of covid cases in Liverpool camp. Now, the game at Emirates will take place between the sides one week later after the first leg tie.

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