Klopp right to play kids

YOU know what? There was a little bit of magic in the air alright in Shrewsbury on Sunday evening. We scoff and we roll our eyes any time a broadcaster references the magic of the cup to entice us to give up a couple of hours of an afternoon to watch the, quite a lot of the time, distinctly non-magical FA Cup – Tranmere 0 Manchester United 6 for example – but here it was, that very same magic they’re always banging on about.

There’s just something about a (good-natured) pitch invasion. The outpouring of joy and comity between fans and players alike, each basking in each other’s company, a shared experience, something that will be talked about for a long time in that neck of the woods. That’s what sport is all about, or at least it should be. For the first time in years we got it, we got what the FA Cup was all about. Did we enjoy the match itself? Not especially, it was what it was and we gave it relatively fleeting attention, but that’s beside the point. Nobody, not even the most dyed-in-wool Red would deny Shrewsbury their moment in the sun mugging for the Match of the Day cameras and Gary Lineker.

Except maybe for Jürgen Klopp that is. His face like thunder in the wake of Jason Cummings’ second goal, sending the cavalry on in the final ten minutes in a desperate bid to avoid the last thing he wanted – a replay, another game for his squad of players. That the replay was fixed for the Premier League’s new winter break seemed to really grate with the German as he declared he wouldn’t be playing any of his first team players and wouldn’t even attend the game himself, instead letting Under 23 boss Neil Critchley take the game.

Cue a backlash from people lambasting the German for disrespecting the cup. It’s as tiresome as it is predictable. Everybody knows the cup isn’t the be all and end all, other managers field vastly changed sides, Klopp’s just the only one to be quite so honest about what he’s doing and besides how can it be disrespectful of Klopp to play the kids in the cup now, when that’s precisely what he did basically that already this season against Everton? And you know what else just like they were able to against Everton – a full strength Everton managed by no less than Carlo Ancelotti – Klopp’s kids are good enough to get the job done.

He’s doing the right thing, protecting his players and standing on principle.