Nearly four years have passed since Liverpool defeated Shrewsbury in the FA Cup, but what became of that youthful team?
One major annoyance of Jurgen Klopp as Liverpool manager ever since he arrived in English football back in October 2015 is the sheer quantity of games that are played.
And although Klopp was once seen to be just whining about his circumstances, his opinion is now widely held since measures have been implemented to lessen the strain on players and guarantee their maximum level of fatigue.
The sheer volume of games played since Jurgen Klopp arrived in English football back in October 2015 has been one of his biggest pet peeves as Liverpool manager.
And while Klopp was initially perceived as merely complaining about his situation, his viewpoint has gained traction as policies have been put in place to ensure that players experience the least amount of stress and exhaustion possible.
The Premier League mid-winter break, of which the Reds manager was a staunch supporter, is one such measure. It allows teams to take a weekend off from playing in the top division. With the Reds’ long list of injured players, Klopp’s current break has come at a perfect time.
However, this was not the case when the break was originally implemented in 2020 due to the authorities’ lack of cooperation, which resulted in FA Cup fourth round replays being arranged within clubs’ scheduled absences.
As expected, Liverpool’s inability to defeat Shrewsbury Town on the opening try resulted in a rematch at Anfield at the beginning of February. And the Reds were in a similar situation as they were in the Middle East because Klopp insisted that his players be given a break after they had spent less than six weeks in Qatar for their successful Club World Cup trip.
Liverpool was forced to field an Academy team with the senior squad facing Monterey in the Club World Cup semi-final less than 24 hours later due to the fixture planners’ refusal to move the League Cup quarterfinal against Aston Villa. The youthful Reds were hammered 5-0 right away.
Despite this, Klopp remained true to his word and gave the entire senior team and coaching staff a mid-season break. The Reds manager once more gave under-23 coach Neil Critchley the authority to choose a side consisting of Academy players.
And it resulted in one of the best nights Anfield has had in a while as the youthful Reds defeated the League One team 1-0 thanks to an own goal from visiting center-back Ro-Shaun Williams.
It was the Reds’ youngest senior team ever, with an average age of 19 years and 102 days, but what’s remarkable is how the guys have performed since then. In fact, it implies that the triumph might not have come as a huge surprise after all.
Caoimhin Kelleher, Curtis Jones, and Harvey Elliott are three of them that are a big part of the senior Liverpool team right now. They all started last week’s League Cup semi-final first-leg victory over Fulham. Just five days before, Jones turned 19 and was making his fourth senior start against Shrewsbury. When he led the team out, he became the youngest captain in Liverpool history. Elliott was making his sixth start, while Kelleher was only making his fourth.
Neco Williams was also making just his fourth Liverpool start; the right-back later played a more significant role in the first half of the subsequent season. It was Williams’ cross that forced the game-winning goal. After making 33 appearances, he went on loan to Fulham and subsequently signed a permanent £17 million contract with newly promoted Premier League team Nottingham Forest. At the tender age of 22, he has represented Wales in the European Championship and World Cup finals.
And in midfield Leighton Clarkson had a full debut, after which he started in the Champions League against FC Midtjylland the following season. He joined the Scottish Premiership team permanently in the summer following a fruitful loan stint at Aberdeen the previous season, and he lost the League Cup final against Rangers this past month.
It was the last and, for many of the players who played against Shrewsbury, their last game for the senior Liverpool team.
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The two centre-backs were Ki-Jana Hoever and Sepp van den Berg. Hoever, who made four appearances, spent £13.5 million to join Wolves later in the year and is currently on loan from Stoke City’s Molineux. Van den Berg, 22, has made four appearances for the Reds but is still a member of the team despite his impressive season-long loan at Mainz in the Bundesliga.
Before moving to Nantes in the summer, Pedro Chirivella made his eleventh and final appearance for Liverpool, starting in the middle of the pitch. He remains with the Ligue 1 team, which he captained and supported in the 2022 French Cup.
Adam Lewis, Jake Cain, Liam Millar, and replacement Joe Hardy all participated in the team’s solitary games. Lewis is on the books at Anfield and is spending a season at League Two Newport County. Millar is on loan at Championship side Preston North End from Basel. Cain is now at League Two Swindon Town. Hardy, on the other hand, has made appearances for Bootle, a team in Division One West of the Northern Premier League, in lower leagues.
Of the other two substitutes that were used that evening, Elijah Dixon-Bonner, who played in the League Cup at Preston in 2021–2022, made his only Liverpool start when the Reds were drawn to play Shrewsbury again in the FA Cup, this time at home in the third round. Morgan Boyes, who made his second of two Reds appearances, is currently on loan at Inverness Caledonian Thistle from Scottish side Livingston. He presently plays a regular role in the Championship for Queens Park Rangers.
