IT’S SHOCKING
Lincoln shine on a great day for underdogs but big clubs snub FA Cup
JURGEN Klopp accepted personal blame after his weakened Liverpool became the biggest casualties of a day of major FA Cup shocks.
Klopp’s men suffered their third defeat at Anfield in a week when a side showing nine changes were beaten 2-1 by Championship side Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Gary Lineker accused the Liverpool manager of showing the competition a lack of respect, but the Reds were not the only team to pay the price for throwing in understudies and kids.
Non-league Lincoln City reached the fifth round for the first time in 130 years after a 3-1 upset of Championship leaders Brighton for whom manager Chris Hughton also made nine changes. And it was a similar story for Rafa Benitez’s Newcastle United whose reserve team were thumped 3-0 at League One Oxford United. Tottenham Hotspur also survived a major scare without Harry Kane and other big-hitters, beating Wycombe Wanderers 4-3 with an injury-time winner after falling 2-0 and 3-2 behind. Klopp named three teenagers — Ben Woodburn, Joe Gomez and Ovie Ejaria — and another youngster, Connor Randall, who hadn’t played this season as he rested players for Tuesday night’s big Premier League clash against leaders Chelsea. It backfired badly as Richard Stearman headed Wolves ahead after only 53 seconds and Andreas Weimann added a second goal before half-time.
Lineker, the Match of the Day presenter and former England strike legend, tweeted afterwards: ‘Don’t get Klopp playing his reserves with no European football. Shows a lack of knowledge of the depth in English football and respect.’
A crestfallen Klopp, whose side were knocked out of the League Cup semi-final by Southampton on Wednesday, said: ‘I feel really responsible for this performance. I thought we could do better with this team, obviously we couldn’t. We have to think about this.
‘I don’t feel the players let me
down. I am responsible for the line-up. I am responsible for the good things and bad things and today was not good.
‘Each boy could have played better but I am not too harsh in my criticism.
‘I will watch the game again. I cannot explain every single thing today. I don’t look for excuses, whatever you write, it is absolutely OK,’
Klopp (below) added. ‘You learn about situations and players all the time. It was an important game for us and we couldn’t deliver.’
Liverpool have won only one of eight matches in 2017, with influential forward Sadio Mane away playing for Senegal at the African Cup of Nations.
Meanwhile, Lincoln’s Sincil Bank was jumping for joy as the National League leaders came from 1-0 down at half-time to win 3-1 and claim their second Championship scalp of the competition. ‘It’s a result I certainly couldn’t see at half-time but we made elementary mistakes,’ said Hughton.
Benitez defended his selection after Aleksandar Mitrovic missed a penalty in Newcastle’s loss at Oxford. ‘We didn’t underestimate Oxford,’ he insisted. ‘We missed our chances and they took theirs.’
Perhaps the greatest drama was at White Hart Lane where Spurs’ Son Heung-min scored a stoppage time winner after Mauricio Pochettino had sent on Dele Alli after an hour to help turn around the match.
Manchester City, Chelsea, Burnley and Middlesbrough were among the Premier League clubs who did progress.