Shrews killed off by flash Gordon
Bobby dazzler! Anfield treated to cheeky Firmino back-heel
For seven minutes the grand heist was on and for another 10 this game was even. Let’s call that the age of innocence before Liverpool found sufficient holes in a yellow wall to kill an unlikely tale.
They weren’t especially brilliant in doing so, and nor were they poor. But it was a dominant performance wrapped in a feeling that it was occasionally too much of a slog for those given a game by Jurgen Klopp.
And that is predominantly down to Shrewsbury. They turned up for a fight and to the best of their capabilities they delivered, first in going 1-0 up through Daniel Udoh, and then in limiting the subsequent damage.
It wasn’t enough to stop a heavy scoreline, achieved through Kaide Gordon’s equaliser, and the following strikes for Fabinho, who scored the second and fourth, and roberto Firmino, who back-heeled the third.
But 4-1 is probably misleading, both in the sense that it was only 2-1 until the 78th minute, and also because it might have been an awful lot more, given Liverpool had 83 per cent of possession.
Better teams have spent far less time chasing Liverpool and taken bigger beatings, so that is a testament of sorts to the work Shrewsbury did in the frenzied, prolonged defence of their penalty area.
For Liverpool, there isn’t much to shout about from a win over the 15th-placed side in League one, but out of a heavily rotated side Klopp will have mined some encouraging information.
Most of it will centre on their equalising goal, which was built in their academy, with the assist coming from Conor Bradley, 18, and a fine finish from Gordon, 17. Gordon is the second-youngest scorer in Liverpool’s history.
‘They can both do so much better because they are really talented,’ said Klopp. ‘I’m really happy with how they did.’
Beyond satisfaction at their contributions, the prime emotion for Klopp appeared to be relief after a week in which preparations were ravaged by Covid — and their Carabao Cup semi-final against Arsenal was postponed because of an apparent outbreak at the club.
The Liverpool manager, who was back on the sidelines after isolation, was forced to field four teenagers for this game, before later saying how many of the absences were caused by ‘false positives’.
‘We thought we had a proper outbreak last week and it showed we had a lot of false positives,’ said Klopp, who confirmed Trent Alexander-Arnold has returned a legitimate positive test. ‘The rules are like they are. The false positives couldn’t play.’
In reflecting on the result in trying circumstances, he added: ‘It was a very difficult week and we are just happy to go through.’
Fair enough, though it will have no doubt frustrated Klopp that his side so often lacked the wit to break through a team happy to sit back. Especially when his own team still had the quality of Virgil van Dijk, Andrew robertson and Fabinho. The early scraps all favoured Klopp’s side, before Shrewsbury jolted Anfield with a goal from a rare attack.
The move started with a long diagonal from Ethan EbanksLandell, which Nathanael ogbeta took down on his chest before tricking some space from Bradley. His cross should have been cut out, but instead travelled on to Udoh, who knocked past Caoimhin Kelleher. Manager Steve Cotterill, who was in hospital this time last year with Covid, couldn’t keep the grin off his face.
For a brief period, the dream was on, but Gordon finished well for the equaliser, with one touch to control Bradley’s cross and another to turn Josh Vela ahead of a well-measured finish.
Fabinho scored a penalty and then substitute Firmino made it 3-1 with one of his first touches. Fabinho got his second and Liverpool’s fourth in stoppage time.
Cotterill, who labelled Van Dijk a ‘gentleman’ for his kind words in the Shrewsbury dressing room after the match, said: ‘I didn’t think it was a 4-1 game. I thought it was a 2-1. I am very proud of my players.’
LIVERPOOL (4-3-3): Kelleher 6; Bradley 7, Konate 5, Van Dijk 6.5, Robertson 6.5 (Tsimikas 90min); Dixon-Bonner 6.5 (Firmino 64, 7), Fabinho 7.5, Morton 6.5 (Norris 90); GORDON 7.5 (Frauendorf 81), Jones 6, Woltman 6 (Minamino 46, 6).
Scorers: Gordon 34, Fabinho 44 (pen), 90, Firmino 78. Manager: Jurgen Klopp 6.5.
SHREWSBURY (3-5-2): Marosi 7.5; Pennington 7, Ebanks-Landell 7, Nurse 7; Bennett 6 (Daniels 88), Vela 7, Davis 6.5, Leahy 6.5 (Caton 90), Ogbeta 6.5 (Pierre 83); Bowman 6 (Bloxham 83), Udoh 7 (Janneh 83).
Booked: Pennington, Ebanks-Landell, Daniels. Scorer: Udoh 27. Manager: Steve Cotterill 7. Referee: David Coote 7. Attendance: 52,226.