Klopp: First team will skip replay...and I’ll be on winter break too!

LIVeRPOOL manager Jurgen Klopp has revealed that he and his first-team players will miss their FA Cup fourth-round replay at home to Shrewsbury because he is determined to ‘respect the winter break’ brought in by the Premier League. The inaugural winter break comes into force next month and while a Cup replay at Anfield interferes with that, Klopp will play a youth team instead of his Champions League-winning stars. The German will not be there either, with Under 23 manager Neil Critchley taking charge instead. Critchley was also on the bench for the Carabao Cup quarter-final against Aston Villa, which Liverpool’s kids lost 5-0 while Klopp and the first team were in Qatar winning the Club World Cup. ‘Our situation is the following: we’ve known for a couple of weeks, in fact we’ve known longer, that it would be like this,’ said Klopp. ‘In April 2019 we got a letter from the Premier League, I think, where they asked us to respect the winter break and not to organise international friendlies or competitive games. ‘We respect that. So I said to the boys already two weeks ago that we will have a winter break which means we will not be there. It will be the kids who play that game. ‘You cannot deal with us like nobody cares about it. I know that it’s not very popular but that’s the way I see it. The Premier League asked us to respect the winter break. That’s what we do. If the FA doesn’t respect that, then we cannot change it. We will not be there. Does that mean I won’t be there? Yes. Neil Critchley will be in charge.’ While several young players played at New Meadow yesterday, Dejan Lovren, Joel Matip and Divock Origi started, while Mo Salah and Roberto Firmino came off the bench. None of those first teamers will be involved in the replay and when asked to confirm this, Klopp said: ‘It’s only in this country you ask this question. It’s a winter break — what do you think? I can give you the letter (from the Premier League). We have to respect it. We have to respect the players’ welfare. They need a rest. They need a mental rest, a physical rest, and that’s what the winter break is all about.’