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The thing I’ve enjoyed most about Jamie Carragher’s podcast is the incredible forthrightness of the interviews. The shared context, friendship and experiences with his guests provides an incredible platform for honest conversations – far exceeding the cookie cutter Q&As we hear in the vast majority of interviews conducted by actual journalists. Carra’s standing, and aversion to sugar-coating anything, enables him to frame questions in a way that would be downright insulting coming from a reporter. It’s what made the recent episode with Michael Owen such a startlingly brutal and uncomfortable listen. If you came out of that interview still unwilling to bury the hatchet with Michael Owen and finally welcome him home, then I’d advise you to contact someone with a stethoscope. Michael’s story, as told on The Greatest Game, sounded like the clichéd sports movie, charting the incredible highs, then the depths of despair. It was set-up for the final act – the inevitable, uplifting redemption, but in Owen’s case, there is no feel-good ending. If the Robbie Fowler story could draw comparisons to Rocky, Owen’s could be likened to the end of Raging Bull. Put it this way: Michael Owen, who scored 158 goals for his club and thrice tried to get back home after his initial departure, now feels intimidated when he walks into Anfield. “Any Liverpool fan has the power to break my heart,” he said. Jesus, I don’t know about any of you, but hearing that just about broke mine. It’s not right. Owen brought as much joy to the old stadium as any individual in the last quarter century; that much is indisputable. Yet, as Carragher brutally pointed out, Owen gets no love, his career and contributions are glossed over. Or, to use Carragher’s word “dismissed”. I’ll be honest with you. Michael was my guy. At the time I’d have argued “Michael over Robbie” with anyone. My best mate and I still joke about it to this day (how lucky were we to have those two to playfully argue over by the way?). I’d never really resented him for leaving, but it did break my heart. I never hated him for signing for Newcastle because I was privy to information he desperately wanted to come home and was distraught to be going there. I wasn’t among those screaming “where were you in Istanbul?” in his face, because what was the point? It wasn’t even as if I felt signing for United was unforgivable given his predicament. For me, a fissure tore into a gaping crevasse the day he scored the winner in that Manchester derby (as unreal a finish as it was). I hadn’t seen him celebrate quite so exuberantly in a decade. I hadn’t seen that joy since he was a teenager and, as he raced behind the Stretford End goal, hadn’t seen him run that fast either. How could he be that happy doing that, there, for them? At the time when we were in the utter depths of the Gillet and Hicks era, with Rafa’s tenure coming to an end, it was an absolute sickener. For many, it confirmed what they had felt all along. It was the first time I believed it too – that Michael Owen cared only about Michael Owen. It didn’t matter which shirt he was wearing. On that day he was happy for himself, not for Man United. And now, in the context of his interview with Carragher, it’s a little bit easier to see why. Many will still feel like Owen got what was coming, that he made his own bed and thus doesn’t deserve to be mentioned in the same breath as other Liverpool greats. That’s fine. But there’s also a staggering hypocrisy here that’s bothered me for decades. It seems you can be terrible, as a man and a footballer, but as long as you’re pushed out of the door, rather than leave on your own terms, you’re welcomed back to Liverpool with open arms. The ovations afforded to a returning David James down the years, for example. Here’s someone that made an absolute mockery of us, his manager and the entire club, quantifiably costing us a title during his time on his PlayStation, or modelling, or whatever else he was doing while flailing around between the sticks. James and Owen both broke my heart. Michael for leaving us when he did, James for being abjectly terrible at his job and causing us to lose football matches. One of the two feels intimidated walking into Anfield for fear of abuse, the other would probably get a standing ovation if he turned out for one of those Liverpool Legends games. More recently, the reverse is somehow true. It seems a player can force his way out in the most egregious manner and still be remembered fondly. His recent roasting at Anfield aside, the esteem in which Luis Suarez is held absolutely staggers me. Carra mentioned this too. Some of my best mates have him in all-time Liverpool five-a-side teams. I can’t scream this loud enough, but to Hell with Luis Suarez. This bloke went on strike to force a move to Arsenal (to Arsenal), bit opponents and racially abused others. Our reputation is yet to fully recover from our association with that ‘loveable little scamp,’ as evidenced by the recent, long overdue apology to Evra and the coverage it received. I feel ashamed for supporting him at the time. Between Owen and Suarez, which is the club annually falling over itself to wish a happy birthday? Here’s a clue: It’s not the one who ran himself into utter physical degradation before his mid-20s, while wearing the red shirt. Nor is it the one who won a Ballon D’Or in the same year he helped us to a cup treble. Owen’s contribution to the modern history of Liverpool far eclipses Suarez’s season or so of giving a damn. Even Stan Collymore enjoys a higher standing than Michael Owen among some Liverpool fans on social media. Seriously. Even the aversion to Fernando Torres has faded these days. Everyone seems alright with him again with the club often commemorating his contribution more and more often. I promised myself I’d never love another footballer again after he went to Chelsea; then Klopp’s lads came along and now I’m besotted with the lot of them, but that’s beside the point. Speaking of Chelsea, remember when Steven Gerrard tried to force a move there? If Gerrard’s explanation for how that situation came to pass (Papa Rafa didn’t show him enough love, etc.) is understood then why can’t Michael’s reasons for heading to Real Madrid, when all along his plan was to just “do a Rushie” and come back after a year? The answer’s rhetorical, if we’re honest with ourselves. After developing an Alan Shearer-like reputation for bland, guarded interviews during his playing career, Michael has been an open book since his retirement. Especially regarding his injuries and his self-professed rapid decline. We’ve had a window into Owen the person. Maybe that’s what has me warming to him again? The fact that, away from his horses, his millions and his media career, he’s a guy with insecurities, with regrets, with fears and apprehension. It’s a great leveller. I don’t know how the current impasse changes. Maybe it starts with the club affording him the same respect it does to other, less deserving folks, through its constant content output? If they can get off Suarez’s lap for five minutes that is. For all their talk about the “LFC family” they aren’t half choosy about who is treated as such. People shouldn’t need reminding just how good Michael Owen was, but if that’s what needs to happen, it should. There’s no reason for this continued antipathy or, perhaps even worse, utter apathy. That might be the hardest thing about this for Owen. Right now, he doesn’t matter. He’s not loved, nor particularly hated. Just irrelevant. Some will say that’s his punishment. After listening to his side of the story, I’d counter by saying, “for what exactly?” Carragher brutally pointed out that, while he finished his career with a guard of honour and a Kop mosaic, Michael went out coming off the bench for Tony Pulis’ Stoke. Wasn’t that punishment enough? Enough is enough. It’s time to recognise Michael Owen’s contribution for what it was. On the stat sheets, to the numbers on that increasingly-active “Wall of Champions” and in our mind’s eye. “One-nil down, two-one up, Michael Owen won the cup.” Remember that? Like many others, the story isn’t straight forward. There are complications. But Michael Owen is unquestionably a Liverpool great and deserves to be spoken of as such. It’s time to end the story in the right way. Chris Smith @ByChrisSmith

Saturday Feb 1: L 4 Southampton 0. Imagine being an opposition manager trying to prepare a team to face us right now, especially at Anfield. It’s virtually impossible. Usually, even with the really good sides, there’s a weakness you can identify and try to exploit. Maybe they aren’t good defending crosses, or they’re susceptible to pace. Or perhaps the left back isn’t the best or one of the centre backs gets dragged out of position too easily. These are always things the analysts would spot and you’d try to take advantage of, but so many knowledgeable people are saying this Liverpool side has no weaknesses and we’re seeing this on a weekly basis. How the fuck do you beat us? The only way a team is going to beat us is if we have a huge off day (like at Old Trafford), and even then they’d have to produce their best game of the season to still win (unlucky, United!). Southampton were superb today. I couldn’t have been more impressed with them. They had a go, they played on the front foot and they were really well drilled in what the coach wanted them to do. For 45 minutes they gave us all we could handle. And then they lost 4-0 because that’s what we can do. At least they went in with the approach that they would stand or fall by doing what they do. One of things that isn’t really talked about but for me is one of the key factors in why we’re able to do what we do, is the level of analysis we do on the opposition. The Southampton boss said we’re so great because we never underestimate anyone, and that’s true. It’s also true that we study the shit out of everyone we’re going to play. I guess those two things are linked together. Look at today. Southampton caused us so many problems in the first half, but Klopp says that at half time his boy Pete picked out three examples of passages of play where we just needed to do something a bit different to open them up. This no doubt involved changing how we used Fabinho when playing through their press, and lo and behind in the second half we were just popping it around them and then finding space to run at them. This is what I mean. No stone is left unturned when it comes to preparation and as a result of that we can adjust to overcome any type of tactics or style. Of course it helps when you’ve got world class players all over the park, but other teams have had that too. They’ve never been able to do what we’re doing right now though. Meanwhile, the Hendo for POTY campaign is really rolling now. Shearer threw his weight behind it on MOTD tonight, Lineker agreed and Ian Wright offered up no argument against either. It might actually happen you know. Sunday Feb 2: What’s this bullshit? Juve ready to bid £150m for Virgil, apparently. Biggest load of clickbait shite since… since… well since that Richarlison story last week. Who in their right mind is swapping us for Juve, especially after seeing what happened to Big Sexy who is now at Dortmund. You don’t leave us and better yourself. Not any more. Meanwhile, City lost again. I’ll be covering this in the Round Up so won’t dwell on it here. One thing I want to mention though is how fucking frazzled Guardiola is. His post match interview with Sky was really uncomfortable viewing as he had that weird kind of forced smile you see from movie bad guys before they slit someone’s throat. He then went off on one about something Peter Scudamore said two years ago. Even leaving aside the way he’s twisted what Scudamore meant, this was fucking nuts. I’ve been telling you for ages how there are people behind the scenes at that club who are utterly obsessed with Liverpool and this is just the latest example of it. There’s no way Guardiola thought of that by himself. He’s not someone who sits there reading all the papers to see what’s being said about his team and I doubt he even knew who Scudamore was before today. For him to have said what he did after the game just tells me he’s been fed that by someone else there. Probably in the press office, as if you talk to anyone who’s had dealings with them they’ll tell you that they’re batshit fucking mental over there. So someone has told him he should bring that up and they’ve made him look like an absolute fucking tool. Not that he needs much help, but still. I reckon he’ll quit at the end of this season as he knows he’s beaten and unless he’s given another billion pound to spend (which he won’t be, as the FFP scrutiny on them is such that not even they would dare to be so brazen again) that City squad is not closing the gap on us any time soon. We’ve broken him like we broke Barcelona. Maybe he’ll go back and they can try to fix each other while sharing their traumatic experienced at the hands of the Mighty Reds. Monday Feb 3: Saw a City fan account on Twitter today clutching the straw that the way we’re winning the title isn’t as satisfying as their “Aguerooooooooo” moment. Gary Neville mentioned something similar a few weeks ago, but I don’t get it at all. This is way better and way more satisfying. It literally does not get any better than this, I wouldn’t swap this for the world. Take last season for example. Those last few months were torture, both for us and for City. It wasn’t enjoyable at all. It was for them in the end because they won on the final day, but it’s as much relief as anything else at that point. To win it on the last day, even with an ‘Aguero moment’, means months of stress beforehand. Yes, you get that incredible moment of elation at the end of it, but frankly I can do without that. Maybe it’s an age thing, but I’m enjoying this season way more than last because we’re miles ahead. We can save the drama and iconic moments for Europe. The league is about getting it won as soon as possible. It always has been. Tuesday Feb 4: L 1 Shrewsbury 0. That was FUCKING BRILLIANT. I loved it. From first minute until the last the kids were incredible. There was no let up, no dodgy spell, it was just utter dominance from the opening whistle until the closing one. Shrewsbury never had a spell in the game where they were on top. I thought we’d win the game but i never expected it to be as one sided as this. It really shouldn’t be when you take everything into consideration. A team of kids, talented as they are, should not be taking a League One team to school like this. It shouldn’t happen. But it did. Part of that is because Shrewsbury’s manager is clearly a bum. How can you set a team up so negatively to play against a load of teenagers? And the first corner they got they took it short and ended up back near the halfway line! Honestly, I’d have sacked him on the spot for that. You know what I was saying about our preparation and how good we are with that stuff? This is the opposite end of that scale. They were up against Sepp Van den Berg and the Ten Dwarfs and they took a short fucking corner. Honestly, he should be sacked immediately for gross incompetence. What about our lads though? Incredible performances right throughout the team. Neco Williams is a fucking machine, he absolutely owned that entire side of the field and could have scored four goals. From right back. He’s brilliant. Hoever is class, Sepp - who I’ve not been sold on at all - had by far his best game for the club (like a young ginger Sami!), Adam Lewis had a storming game at left back, Pedro was his usual classy self, Cain and Clarkson (who I’ve been raving about for for the last 12 months) acquitted themselves very well, Jones oozed quality, Elliott was boss and Miller ran himself ragged without really getting any joy. For all the shite we’ve had to listen to about how we’re ruining the magic of the cup and disrespecting the traditions etc I just think it’s funny how once again we’ve delivered a massive ‘fuck you’ to everyone. Klopp wasn’t there and he’s getting stick for it, but what would have been more ‘magical’. Klopp turning up with a load of senior players and knocking the living shit out of the minnows, or a team of kids managed by an unassuming, hard working coach who has spent his entire career trying to improve young players, going out there and performing like THAT and setting up a mouth watering tie with Chelsea. Oh and by the way, there were more people at Anfield tonight than there were at the other three replays combined. So instead of slagging us off, the traditionalists should kissing our hairy beanbags for single handedly saving this season’s FA Cup and making it interesting, because without us this tournament would be dull as shit. Wednesday Feb 5: Saw an interview with Curtis from last night and the lad absolutely fucking cracks me up. There’s this completely unintentional, endearing cockiness about him where he says things that seem completely normal to him but make you stop and go “what???” He did it the other week after Everton when he said that it can be frustrating that he isn’t playing. He’s a teenager who thinks he’s good enough to play in the best team in the world. He’s right actually (he is good enough) but the problem is there are six or seven top class, experienced, full internationals ahead of him! Anyway, in this interview he was talking about how proud he was to become the club’s youngest ever captain last night, and he said “I never thought I’d get the opportunity so early to captain the team”. Hahaha you’ve got to love that “so early” part of it. It’s completely unintentional and he’ll have no idea how that sounded, but he’s just told us that he’s always expected to one day be captain of Liverpool and the only thing that has surprised him is that it came so soon. I love this kid, he’s got that Robbie Fowler Toxteth quality where he just believes he’s the greatest, but not in an arrogant, dislikable way. Jurgen needs to find a way to get him some meaningful minutes, and I don’t mean the token garbage time minutes that Phil Foden gets at the end of City games. Id expect him to get half a dozen league starts between now and the end of the season because we’re so far ahead and will eventually prioritise the Champions League. Also, I think Jones and Williams should start every FA Cup game even if we go all the way to the final. The way they’ve played they deserve to see this competition through to the end. Thursday Feb 6: The final podcast of Carra’s brilliant series dropped today, and it was the best of the lot. That’s saying something because some of them have been absolutely fantastic (the Bellamy one was probably my favourite until now, although Hendo, Stevie, Southall and Merson all ran it close) but this one was just compulsive listening. So much so that I’m going to listen to it again later in case there’s anything I didn’t fully catch the first time around. It was Michael Owen, and never before has Michael been grilled like this. It’s what he needed too as finally he was able to get across exactly what his mindset was and the thought process he had when he was leaving for Madrid and then signing for Newcastle, and later the Mancs. Everyone will have their own opinion as to whether he was able to justify the moves he made, but the one thing I’d say he did is shine a lot more light on what was going on at that time and why he arrived at the decisions he did. So many times I’ve heard him asked a question, answer it and then there being no follow up. It’s done my head in because the interviewers seemed to be missing the point. I’d hear him say something and my reaction would be “yeah, that’s all well and good but what about x, y and z?” But no-one ever pressed him into answering x, y and z. Until now. Only Carra could probably get away with that line of questioning without Owen becoming overly defensive. Because it was two mates chatting it worked and Owen was able to describe, and in my mind at least, go a long way towards justifying a lot of the things that happened. I’m not even going to go into the specifics here as it’s been done time and again, but if you haven’t listened to it then I can’t recommend it highly enough. Have a listen, it’s well worth it, and if you still bear a grudge towards him after this then you must have a cold, cold heart! Seriously though, I understand people not loving him, I understand them not even liking him. Indifference is probably the most common feeling for most fans, but the one thing I can’t really wrap my head around is the active dislike and in some cases hatred towards him. Life’s too short. Fucking hell, some of the best days we’ve had as fans came because of him. How can you hate him? Ultimately, Michael himself even admits that the lack of love he gets from fans of the clubs he played for is largely of his own making (although he only seems to care what we think of him), but I just think it’s sad that any time he comes back to Anfield he feels on edge in case someone shouts abuse at him. I think his quote was “There are 60,000 people there and any one of them has the capacity to break my heart”. That just made me feel sad, because as I say, ultimately this fella is directly responsible for some of the best days of my life. They wouldn’t have happened without him and for that I’ll always be grateful. I don’t necessarily agree with everything he ever did, but life’s too short for holding grudges over petty shit like this. If I were to see him on the street I’d go over and hug him and just tell him thanks for the good times. And I’d also tell him to stop referring to United as ‘we’ when he’s on telly. Hopefully Carra already did that, as that’s what mates are for. Friday Feb 7: I don’t tend to pay much attention to European footy these days, but there are some interesting rumours coming out of Barca at the moment. They’re a dumpster fire. They have been since we broke them. Now there’s a lot of talk about Messi wanting out, which I don’t really buy but who knows. Messi is incredible and although I doubt I’ll ever concede that anyone is better than Maradona, I’m not going to argue with anyone who says Messi is the greatest ever. The whole Messi / Ronaldo thing was never even a debate ifor me because, irrespective of the numbers they both put up, my eyes always tell me that Messi is just by far the more gifted footballer, even though Ronaldo does have the edge over him in certain areas. One thing you have to say about Ronaldo though is he’s never just remained in his own little comfort zone. He’s tested himself and gone out and done it in the top three leagues in Europe. He’s also led an average Portugal side to major championship success, something Messi has not been able to do with Argentina. So Messi now has a really big decision to make. He can stay at Barca in his comfort zone, complaining about how they keep buying shite players and no longer have the money to push the rest of Europe around in the transfer market, or he could move on, to the Premier League, and show that he can be the greatest regardless of who he’s playing for. I think he’ll stay put, but if he were to come over here he’d end up at City or United because I don’t think Klopp would be interested in him and the Manc clubs are the only ones who would come close to matching the wage he’s on. Obviously there’s the Guardiola link too, but I’m not sure how much weight that carries as having worked with ‘Pep’ for several years Messi probably thinks he’s a bad weirdo. I’d love to see him over here (and if it was for us then I’d be buzzing like you couldn’t even imagine) because I think it would be fascinating to see if he could have the same impact in this league as he’s had in Spain. I don’t think he’s got the balls to try it though, and I also think he’s smart not to. If he came to play for us then Klopp would bring the best out of him because that’s what he does, but if he went anywhere else then we’d see the Argentina Messi rather than the Barcelona one. Finally today, Ashley Young flew his favourite barber out to Milan to give him a haircut. Now this story annoyed the fuck out of me far more than it should. If it had been Pogba for example, it wouldn’t have bothered me because he has his own unique (another way of putting it would be shit) style where he wants something different. I could see why Pogba would want his own guy, but Ashley Young has a fucking number one all over!!!! It’s bad enough he did this, but what makes it worse is he’s broadcasting it. Flaunting his wealth, the massive helmet. and that was the week that was….

Who’s disrespecting the cup now, eh? I really hope we win thing now, not just because it would be part of an historic double or hopefully even treble (or quadruple if we’re counting the World Club Cup), but because it will be a big ‘fuck you’ to all those who threw shade our way for fielding such a young side. Disrespecting the cup? No, you disrespected our kids, because they’re fucking boss. All this overly nostalgic bullshit we hear about the ‘magic of the cup’ does my head in. The FA Cup has changed. Football changes. Shit, everything changes. THIS is the new magic of the cup. Not Ronnie fucking Radford scoring a screamer on a ploughed field in the 70s, and not Shrewsbury fans invading the pitch after drawing with a Liverpool side minus all of its regular starters. What is more magical than a group of talented teenagers being given the chance to play for the biggest club in the country, in front of a sell out crowd, and playing like THAT??? Nothing, that’s what. This is the new magic of the cup, embrace it. I’m made up I went to this game. I wasn’t going to bother but a mate couldn’t make it and offered me his ticket so I thought why not. So glad I did, because it was so much fun. I walked out of Anfield with a massive grin on my face and it’s still there now as I write this. What a fun season this has been so far and it’s not just because of the senior lads running away with the league. Some of the most enjoyable moments of the season have been in the cups where the kids have just been sensational. I don’t think the club has every been in a healthier state than it is right now. Everything is running exactly how you’d want it to. It’s mad really when you think about what we’ve done in these cups. Up until now, the impressive cup wins were achieved with a sprinkling of experienced players mixed in with the most talented youngsters. The one time the kids had been left to fend for themselves they lost 5-0 at Villa, but even that game was enjoyable in a lot of ways. The boys were the better side that night but Villa just had more experience and physically at both ends of the pitch. Not to mention we were without some of our best youngsters that night, as Jones, Brewster, Williams, Lewis and Larouci were all unavailable. This was different. Larouci and Brewster weren’t there but it as an altogether stronger looking side than the one that lost at Villa. Besides, Shrewsbury didn’t have the quality that Villa had. Even so, they had given us all we could handle at their place so on paper it looked like a tough game. Not that anyone wanted to talk about football in the build up to this. It was all about Klopp staying away, disrespecting the cup, screwing Shrewsbury out of money and all sorts of other nonsense. Lost in all of it was that Neil Critchley genuinely thought his lads could win the game. You could see it in his press conference. The little glint in his eye when he was told that people had been writing his boys off. “Have they?” he said. He never said it but it was obvious he was thinking “ok well we’ll fucking show them”. I wasn’t bothered that Klopp left Critchley in charge. It made sense as these are his boys, not Klopp’s. He coaches them, he knows them and what makes them tick, so let him take charge. One of Klopp’s greatest strengths is he surrounds himself with the right people and he’s happy to delegate responsibility. I was on board with him leaving Critch to run the show, but I would have liked Klopp to be there even if it was just to offer a word of encouragement here and there and to give the boys a lift. Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t feel strongly about it and I can’t say it bothered me that he didn’t show up, but personally I felt it would have been nice for the lads if he had been there supporting them. He wasn’t, but James Milner was. What a guy. If he’d had a few more days training under his belt I bet he’d have been begging to play. I love the togetherness of everyone at the club right now. Loads of the senior lads were watching the game on dodgy streams and posting their support for the kids on social media, but Milner wanting to be involved as much as he could, being in the dressing room giving pep talks like he does with the first team, I just fucking love that. “The message was simple. Just go out there and play like a Liverpool team”, said Critchley afterwards. Message received loud and clear. This was exactly like watching the first team. It was uncanny. Obviously the quality of the individuals isn’t the same, but in terms of the set up, patterns of play, movement with and without the ball, bravery in possession, work rate out of possession and everything else you want to mention, it was the same. I can’t get over it to be honest. A team full of teenagers just went out and played a League One side packed with seasoned pros off the park. The scoreline doesn’t tell the story of this game at all. It wasn’t a close game. It was complete domination. Our goalkeeper did not have to make a single save of any note. Think about that for a second. Not one save. The two things that I take from this game are that the kids were absolutely phenomenal, and that the performance in the first leg from the more experienced players was actually far worse than I originally thought. They let this team score two goals against them and but for Adrian it would have been double that. Matip, Lovren and Fabinho should be throughly embarrassed because they made Shrewsbury look good when in reality they’re actually pretty terrible. We saw that in this game as they were throughly outplayed by what was almost a youth team. I keep seeing references to the “under 23 team” which is technically correct, but it’s an u23 team in name only. Half of the side could still play in the u18s and most of the others are only a year too old for that. Pedro Chirivella was the only player over 20. I don’t think enough is being made of what an achievement this actually was, because they went up against a team of grown men who play a more physical style than most of these kids are used to facing, and they played them off the park. It was 36 minutes before Shrewsbury even managed any kind of spell of possession. I know because when it happened I actually checked the time and made a note of it. It was staggering. Up until then I don’t think they were able to put more than three or four passes together before we took the ball off them. I don’t know if they were overawed by the occasion or what, but Shrewsbury’s performance baffled me. They parked the bus. They had five strung across the width of their box and everyone else behind the ball. Did they think they were facing our first team? It was weird. And they were just fouling constantly too. Foul after foul after foul. As great as our kids were, I thought Shrewsbury were embarrassingly bad and their manager is clearly a massive shithouse if he sent them out to be that defensive. What was he thinking? They had a great chance to go through and instead they looked like they were playing for penalties right from the start. Beforehand I thought we’d win the game but I definitely didn’t think it would go the way it did. I thought it would maybe end up 3-2 with us riding our luck and the crowd giving the kids that little push they needed to get over the line. It was nothing like that though. It should have been 3-0 on the balance of play. Right from the first whistle the boys took charge. They passed it around comfortably, the full backs were flying forward, the midfielders kept things moving and picked up all the second balls. As I say, just like the first team. It was perfect right up until we reached the box and then it stuttered. The lack of a recognised centre forward didn’t help. Liam Miller is a decent player but when I’ve watched him most of his best work has been coming from the left. He isn’t the most natural centre forward but in his defence he was up against three centre halves so there was no space to play in. He ran himself ragged all night but offered no goal threat. Not that too many others did either. As well as the lads played, they found it tough to create clear chances. The biggest goal threat by far was Neco Williams. What a fucking player he is. He had four or five attempts at goal and had a similar impact on the game that Trent has so often had. “Running the game from right back” is something we’ve heard said about Trent, and it more or less applied to Neco in this game I thought. He went close to a goal a couple of times in the first half and again after the break. Jones looked a threat too and at times Shrewsbury couldn’t get near him. He played the game at his pace and made the Shrewsbury defenders follow. They couldn’t get the ball off him and often resorted to just crude fouls to stop him. He’s going to be a great player and probably very soon. The first half couldn’t have gone much better other than if we’d scored. It was complete dominance of the ball so I was staggered when I saw that the possession was only something like 65% in our favour. It felt like it should have been nearer to 90%. Shrewsbury were a little more positive after the break and I can only assume that they felt embarrassed by their pitiful first half display. At least now they looked like they might venture out of their own half a bit. They definitely wanted to be more attacking but they weren’t really allowed to. The organisation and pressing, the fighting for second balls, it was just top drawer all night and Critchley must have been the proudest man inside Anfield seeing all the hard work he’s done on the coaching field pay off so spectacularly. The most surprising aspect for me was how well the defence played. Other than the disallowed goal (which I’ll get to shortly) they didn’t allow Shrewsbury anything and the two Dutch kids in the middle were Van Dijk and Gomez like. Sepp Van den Berg hasn’t really convinced in his previous appearances and hasn’t even really looked that good for the u23s. That didn’t concern me in terms of his overall prospects because this is his first season here, he’s still very young and playing centre back is probably the toughest position on the pitch for a youngster. That said, I did wonder how he’d be able to cope against League One strikers that would be looking to bully him. He couldn’t have looked more assured though. I honestly don’t think he put a foot wrong all night. I couldn’t have been more impressed with him. Obviously Hoever was top class too but I expect that as he’s a special talent and he has much more experience. Van den Berg deserves massive credit for how he played. Both full backs were brilliant too. I really like Adam Lewis, always have. He’s had to wait a long time for this but he took his chance with both hands. He’s competitive, energetic and he’s got a magic wand of a left foot. I’d love to see him develop into Robbo’s understudy in the same way Neco has with Trent. Even the disallowed Shrewsbury goal reflects well on the back four because look at how disciplined they were pushing out and holding the line to catch the lad offside. And he was offside. I could see it at the time as I was sat in line with it, but I wasn’t sure VAR would save us because of how far back it was in the build up. You know what the problem was with that whole situation? The linesman didn’t want to make any decisions all night. He gave an offside just after that, but then he went back to doing nothing and relying on VAR to sort it if needed. That’s all well and good when it leads directly to a goal, but what about when it ends up being a corner, or it’s the third passage of play and the defence has reset. VAR can’t do anything about that, so just do your fucking job and put the flag up. In these situations the longer the delay the better the chances of the goal being ruled out, especially with offside. If it’s onside then they can spot that quickly. When they have to start getting the lines out then there’s a decent chance it’s not going to count, and so it proved. A massive kick in the balls for the Shrewsbury fans, especially the one who threw the yellow flare onto the pitch! We were maybe a little lucky with that as the lad who was offside didn’t out the final cross in. I get why some feel that it was harsh, but if we’d had VAR in the first game they’d never have been given a penalty so it’s swings and roundabouts. It was no more than we deserved for the way we played anyway. That was the first meaningful attack they’d had and if they’d scored from it then it would have been one of the biggest smash and grab acts of all time. Some of the football our kids played in the second half was sensational. The little give and goes with Elliott and Jones were a particular highlight, while Chirivella was just a joy to watch all night. Such a lovely footballer him, and he was ably assisted by Clarkson and Cain, two kids I’ve loved watching in the 18s as they dovetail so well together in midfield. We must have forced a dozen corners in that second half. The problem was other than Van den Berg we didn’t have any height to threaten from them. That was the one real disadvantage we had and it was the only thing I was worried about. If Shrewsbury had been able to force a few set plays it might have cost us, but they had so little of the ball they were rarely able to put us under any pressure The weird thing is that from the first corner they got they took it short and ended up going backwards. What the fuck is that all about? I couldn’t believe they did that. It defied all common sense as they should have been putting it right on top of Kelleher and attacking it at every opportunity. Staggeringly inept and you’d have to point the finger at Sam Ricketts again for that. Despite all the nice approach play the ball just wouldn’t go in for us. Jones went close and Williams was denied by he keeper after a spectacular move that the first team would have been proud of. Then we finally broke the deadlock in the most comical of circumstances. Williams did brilliantly in defence and then fired a diagonal ball looking for the run of Elliott. The defender covered the run but at full stretch could only head the ball past his own keeper into the net. We benefitted from an own goal in the first game too, and once again it was a former Man United player. Might be a lesson there. Stop signing shite mancs. We should have wrapped it up late on when they had thrown everyone forward for a set-piece and we broke on them. It looked all set up for a ‘red arrows’ goal as we charged out, but Elliott badly overhit his pass when all he needed to do was just knock it into the ptah of two unmarked players. It may have hit his hand when he won the initial challenge though so I don’t know if it would have counted anyway. The way the boys saw the game out was hugely impressive. It felt like they kept the ball in the right hand corner for about five minutes. Such maturity and composure. They never really looked in any danger and Shrewsbury didn’t seem like a side who had any belief that they could force an equaliser. I’ve got nothing against Shrewsbury at all and hopefully the money they earned from this helps them. It was becoming irritating though hearing about how they lost out on half a million because of Klopp fielding the kids (it should be pointed out though that Shrewsbury did not blame him for that) and because the club lowered the admission price accordingly. I understand why that’s a big deal and why lower league clubs wouldn’t be happy about the situation, but this isn’t a black and white issue. Firstly, it was the FA who scheduled the replay in the middle of a winter break, so any grievance should be taken up with them, not us. Secondly, the club’s sensible ticket pricing ensured a full house and allowed loads of parents to take kids to a game, in many cases for the first time. Had we fielded a stronger side and increased the ticket prices, it might not have been a sell out. It may, however, have persuaded one of the TV companies to pick up the game, which would have meant more revenue for both clubs I expect. The TV companies missed a trick not picking the game up, because this was the most intriguing game of the night. A side packed with promising teenagers taking on a team of hardened, hairy arsed League One cloggers in front of 50odd thousand fans? Why the fuck wouldn’t you want to televise that, especially considering that the viewing figures would have been massive due to the number of fans we have. The FA and the TV companies cost Shrewsbury money. Not us. And without being too insensitive, I’d also have to say if you wanted that money so badly then show some fucking ambition in your performance and tactics. There was a huge money spinning tie at Chelsea on the line and all they had to do was beat a team full of kids. Yet they came here and parked the bus. So no, under the circumstances I don’t really have any sympathy for their ‘lost revenue’, especially as they brought 8,500 to Anfield when usually they get a couple of thousand less for their home games. I have to say though that in general I’d like something to be done to help ensure the lower league clubs get more cash as football is definitely weighted too heavily in favour of the top flight. It’s basically a reflection of modern society. The rich get richer and fuck everyone else. It is not the responsibility of Liverpool FANS to be financing it though, which would have been the case if ticket prices had been higher. It’s like how fans are helping to feed the hungry by donating to food banks, when really this situation should not be happening if the fat cats in power were looking after those less fortunate. But anyway, enough of that, back to the celebrations at the end. Critchley was loving it and rightly so. What a night for him. He was asked if it was the highlight of his coaching career and he paused before the realisation of what he’d done hit him. “Yeah I suppose it is”. Made up for him as he comes across as a really nice fella. The lads were loving it too, doing a lap of honour and milking every second of it. So they should. Some of these boys may never play for the first team again, but then again they might. So many of them look like they might actually. They’ve renewed my enthusiasm for the cups this year because frankly I haven’t been arsed about them for years. Picking a star man wasn’t easy as so many of them stood out. Pedro was class, as usual, while Jones was a class above once again. I could easily have given it to Van den Berg and part of me wants to because he was so much improved on previous outings, but the best player on the pitch was my boy Neco and I can’t overlook him. I’d have no hesitation in starting him any time Trent needs a rest because he’s already good enough to start for half the teams in the Premier League. The only negative I can see in all of this is that we got Chelsea away in the next round. They will make changes but not too many, meaning that Klopp will have to go ‘relatively’ strong too. The perfect scenario would have been to draw someone shit so we could give a lot of these kids another run out, but I expect Williams and Jones to probably start regardless of who we were playing as they’ve been that good. One final point. I was thinking afterwards that the first team lads have an awful lot to be grateful to these kids for. They’re off sunning themselves on beaches while the kids are holding down the fort and ensuring there’s still an FA Cup to be won when they get back. They should all throw in a week’s wages and split it between the kids. In fact, Matip, Lovren, Fabinho and Origi should throw in two weeks, as a thank you for tidying up the mess they made. Up the mini mentality monster Reds! Team: Kelleher; Williams, Hoever, Van den Berg, Lewis; Chirivella, Cain, Clarkson (Boyes); Elliott (Dixon-Bonner), Miller (Hardy), Jones: