Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has confirmed he will not take charge of his side s FA Cup fourth-round replay against Shrewsbury Town, with Neil Critchley to lead a young squad.
Jason Cummings came off the bench to score twice on Sunday, earning a 2-2 draw that means League One side Shrewsbury will play a lucrative replay at Anfield early next month.
That game is set to fall within the Premier League s inaugural mid-season break, with Klopp having previously promised his senior stars they would get time off to recover ahead of the run-in.
That means Critchley will be in the dugout, the Liverpool Under-23s coach having overseen an EFL Cup exit to Aston Villa earlier in the season when the Reds were on Club World Cup duty.
Look, our situation is the following: we have known that for a couple of weeks it is like this, Klopp told a news conference.
Actually, we knew it a bit longer because it was always clear when we came through into the next round it would be like this.
In April 2019, we got a letter from the Premier League where they asked us to respect the winter break, not to organise international friendlies and not to organise competitive games in respect of it.
I have said to the boys already, two weeks ago, that we will have a winter break, so it means we will not be there – it will be the kids who play that game because they cannot deal with us like nobody cares about it.
I know it is not very popular, but that’s the way I see it and, how I said, the Premier League asked us to respect the winter break and that’s what we do it. If then the FA [Football Association] do not respect it then we cannot change.
But we [the first-team squad and staff] will not be there.
2 Liverpool have failed to win a match after being 2+ goals ahead for the first time since April 2018 when they drew 2-2 with West Brom in the Premier League, they had won their previous 47 such games. Pegged.
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe)
Klopp explained he plans to give his team a week s rest, during which they will undergo individual training regimes away from Melwood in order to stay fit.
He added: That s what the winter break is about and then another competition tells us it s not that important, so we had to make these decisions before because the boys have family.
And the international players like Jordan Henderson, Virgil van Dijk, Gini Wijnaldum, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Mo Salah, Sadio Mane, all these guys they have never [time] off so this is the week.
I said in the moment it was clear there would be a winter break months ago, before I knew the FA Cup could come in between, then we would respect it and we do.
