Press conference: Neil Critchley on FA Cup replay with Shrewsbury
Neil Critchley previewed the FA Cup fourth-round replay with Shrewsbury Town at a press conference on Monday afternoon.
The Liverpool U23s boss will lead a youthful side for the second meeting between the two clubs, following a 2-2 draw at New Meadow.
Read the key points from Critchley below…
On taking charge of a second first-team fixture this season and what it means to him…
Incredible, really. I never thought it would happen once, let alone twice. I’m obviously really looking forward to what hopefully will be a special night. The young players are going to get quite a unique opportunity and hopefully they go and play, in many ways, how we played against Aston Villa [in the Carabao Cup]; in a similar way but hopefully we can make more of a game of it. If the players play how I know they can play then I’m sure the support we have on the night will be right behind us. Hopefully we can make it a great night for everyone.
On whether his messages to the players will change for the game…
No. I think it’s important the messages are similar, that we keep it simple and the players know what’s expected of them. We work on our process, our plan, what we can guarantee. You’re never quite sure what young players are going to produce because they are still learning their trade. They are still learning the game. But that’s the beauty of giving young players opportunity, because you never quite know. We’re coming up against experienced players who know the game better than our players, they know how to put their game into the game that’s required. But it is a great opportunity and I’m really intrigued to see how our young players do.
On discussions with Jürgen Klopp…
The manager has made [things] quite clear with his statement and what he said prior to the game. He gives myself, the staff, the players unbelievable support. I can speak to him whenever I like when I’m down here. He supports the young players unbelievably well, as he has shown so far this season. His presence, even if he isn’t there, is always felt by our younger players and by me. I also think maybe one per cent that came into his thinking around his decision [was] the way we played against Aston Villa, maybe he thought the boys deserved another opportunity.
On the inspiration young players can take from the first team…
The strength of the first team, what you see all the time, and I don’t think it gets spoken about enough – sometimes it’s hard to put your finger on it and describe it – but when you are around it you see the culture they create. That’s through the people that they are. For our players to be in and around that on a regular basis, it can’t help but rub off on them. I think that has been one of the biggest changes I’ve felt in our younger players – when they’ve had an opportunity to be in and around the senior players on a more regular basis, which a lot of them have had this season. When you talk about the season Liverpool are having, which is quite staggering, for our manager to still support our younger players and give them opportunity is quite remarkable really. There has been a real connection between the younger players and the first-team players and long may that continue.
On Shrewsbury…
They deserve their replay because of the way they performed. The boss said after they were fully deserving of the result on the evening. To be 2-0 down and stay in the game, to come back, they created a lot of problems for us. I’m sure they’ll be thinking of something similar tomorrow night. Obviously we’re going to have a different team. I think the expectation maybe for them is different coming into the game, playing against the team they are going to be facing. That’s why I think it makes it such an intriguing, exciting cup tie – because there’s a bit of the unknown around the game. I’m sure the Shrewsbury fans will travel in great numbers. I think the club has done a great job with the pricing of the tickets and it could be a full house. It should hopefully make for an exciting cup tie.
On the value of games such as this and the Carabao Cup quarter-final for developing players…
You can’t buy experiences like that. It’s probably worth a million of my coaching sessions! Taking the boys outside their comfort zone and putting them into a game like that, you learn so much about them but more importantly they’ll learn more about themselves. I was pleased with a lot of aspects of that performance [against Villa] but I also couldn’t help but be a little bit disappointed as well with the result. I thought that was a little bit harsh on us. But we also have to take lessons from that. We got some plaudits for the way we played but we didn’t do well enough in both penalty boxes. If you’re going to go into a results-driven business you’ve got to win games of football. We didn’t keep the ball out at one end and we didn’t score at the other end. That’s not a recipe for getting success. Our aim is try to do a lot better than that tomorrow night.
On the responsibility that may come to Curtis Jones and how he handles it…
I think he gave a good answer to that in the game against Everton! Self-belief is probably not one of his weaknesses. But that is also why he is who he is. He’ll be looking forward to the game tomorrow night, no doubt about that. A few of the other players have had some experience of these types of games this season – Arsenal, Everton, Aston Villa, tomorrow night. So that little bit of experience in and around the team we’re going to have, even though you’re talking about experience when Curtis has only just turned 19 and we’re going to have players who are eligible in the U18 team. People say it’s an U23s team – we’re not, we’re going to be U19, U20 at best – but a lot of people speak about young players not getting an opportunity in this country. They are going to get an opportunity tomorrow night and they have already had an opportunity this season, because that’s what the manager does. I can’t wait.