Reds coach Klopp praises his youngsters
LIVERPOOL. — Jurgen Klopp was in contact with the Liverpool youngsters before and after their historic 1- 0 replay win over Shrewsbury Town in the FA Cup fourth round on Tuesday night.
The manager and his squad were, somewhat controversially absent on their scheduled mid- season break, but the German still maintained contact with the coaching staff and the players and had an able deputy in James Milner offering his experience and expertise at close quarters.
While his teammates are currently on holiday, Liverpool’s veteran midfielder has remained at home for a few extra days to continue his rehabilitation from a hamstring injury before he takes a break, but wanted to offer his support in a more substantial way.
“He trained with us yesterday and he asked whether he could come along.
“I think the answer is ‘ Yes, of course, you can.’
“It was very respectful to ask,” said Under- 23s coach Neil Critchley, who led the team at Anfield in Klopp’s absence.
“He then said, ‘Can I come in the dressing room?’. What do you think? ‘Of course,’.
“He was giving words of advice; he was getting right behind the players. He was vocal in the dressing room.
“He was animated. He was vocal behind me; I could hear him.
“He was genuinely delighted at how the boys performed and I can’t thank him enough.”
Klopp, as he did back in December when he was away with the first team at the Club World Cup in Qatar, watched the game from afar and offered his backing via phone.
“The boss was in touch this afternoon with some words of advice and encouragement,” added Critchley after former Manchester United academy graduate
Ro- Shaun Williams’ own goal settled the tie midway through the second half.
“We had a message from the staff that he is delighted with the performance and is buzzing.
“We have given him a game against Chelsea to look forward to.
“He just gives you total clarity, belief, play the Liverpool way, ( and) go for it. And that is what the first team do.
“This is us; this is how we play; this is what we stand for and you had better be ready for it.”
Liverpool’s starting line- up had an average age of 19 years and 102 days, contained three debutants and had 36 senior appearances between them yet they dominated a game and fully deserved their victory and a lap of honour in front of a sell- out 53 000 crowd. — AFP.
IT appears the feud between the Zimbabwe Netball Association and Rainbow Amateur Netball League is far from being resolved.
Both parties are yet to agree on the way forward for the benefit of the sport and players.
ZINA and RANL have been involved in a dispute since the formation of the latter in 2018.
Last November, the Sports Commission directed ZINA to register RANL and recognise the Glow Petroleum- sponsored league.
They also gave a directive for the local netball mother body to convene an extraordinary general meeting to hold elections by January 31.
“On elections and the Sports Commission’s directive, let me say ZINA is operating with a constitution, and that constitution is registered with the SRC,’’ ZINA president Leticia Chipandu said.
“I think it will be better to ask the SRC to look at ZINA constitution, they should be in a position to answer this better because we are behaving according to our constitution.
“At our normal AGM, together with the council, we will discuss issues that need attention and make appropriate decisions.
“Otherwise, everything that we are doing is according to the constitution.’’
On the registration of RANL, Chipandu said they have written to the splinter league regarding the issue.
“They are most welcome, we wrote to them, the SRC is aware of that. We said come so that we formalise and we have been waiting for them,” said Chipandu.
RANL secretary- general Moses Gukurume yesterday said they have done all they could to be registered with ZINA, and nothing has materialised.
“We have done everything possible to get registered with the mother body,’’ he said.
“What we are not happy with is for them to try and regulate us in a manner that is not consistent even with their constitution
“ZINA is refusing to subordinate itself to SRC which gave them a clear directive to constitute a new body.
“It really shows that we are going nowhere.
“We will continue to engage constructively for the benefit of the sport.’’