“Nothing will change”-Jurgen Klopp stands firm on his decision

Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp says he is standing firm on using his under-23s in the FA Cup replay with Shrewsbury Town, otherwise “nothing will change”.

An unrepentant Jurgen Klopp has defended his decision to play Liverpool’s under-23s in next week’s FA Cup replay against Shrewsbury, insisting Neil Critchley is the best coach for the job and the Football Association did not consult “sports-responsible people” over dates for the game.

Level at full-time. Up next, replay at Anfield.#LFC | #EmiratesFACup https://t.co/m3cF7YEA7w

— Liverpool FC (@LFC) January 26, 2020

Klopp hit back at the FA for stating that all clubs had accepted at the start of this season that fourth-round replays would have to take place during the first week of the mid-season “player break”. He also defended his decision not to lead Liverpool’s youngsters against the League One side on the basis that the club’s under-23s coach, Critchley, is the voice they want to hear.

Speaking ahead of Wednesday’s Premier League meeting with West Ham, Klopp launched a lengthy and impassioned defense of his plans.

He said:

“I have to make decisions based on the situation we are in, some people made other decisions before the season. Whoever it was – and okay, the FA tried to do something with moving games to midweek to decrease intensity – but it came out and whoever was involved, if someone from our club was involved and forgot to say no, I don’t know exactly how it was discussed.

“The situation ends up, we are given two weeks [off]. In the first moment I thought, okay, two weeks, but it was not clear which week you get, and then we started going a bit into it and then we saw if we get the second week we probably get a Champions League game in that week.

“We cannot make then a week off and say there are two days to prepare for Atletico Madrid in this case, so the other week was the first week, for the Champions League teams it’s the better week as there’s no Champions League games.

“And then it came up, ‘Oh, there could be a potential [FA Cup] replay.’ Because we plan in the long term, I cannot plan like this [at short notice], especially in a really decisive period of the season coming up, so I decided we will have a mid-season break, based on a letter [from the FA] that we got in April 2019 when we were asked to respect a mid-season break.

“I know how it sounds now and I don’t want to be in the middle of all discussions, I’m not a revolution guy or trying to show the whole world how strong I can be or whatever, it’s not the reason. If people think that I’m lazy because I’m not here [for the match], I cannot change that.

“People can name me whatever, I’m not too interested in that because the only responsibility I have is for my players, and for all the [Premier League] players as well.

Further elaborating about the mid-season break and its importance on the Champions League fixtures, Klopp said:

“Every year we are trying to find our way through the season and it’s absolutely okay, it’s our job, but if then part of these long-term plans is a mid-season break, then it has to be a mid-season break and you cannot get it [taken] away a week before you have it. That’s not possible.”