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Liverpool beat Shrewsbury Town 4-1 in a third round match of the FA Cup at Anfield on Sunday. Shrewsbury Town scored the first goal of the match in the 27th minute of the match through Daniel Udoh.
Liverpool then scored four past the hapless Shrewsbury Town, with Fabinho scoring two goals in the 44th and 90+4th minute. Kaide Gordon scored the equalizer in the 34th minute while Roberto Firmino scored in the 78th minute for Liverpool.
With Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane off to national duty at AFCON, manager Jurgen Klopp handed first-team debuts to quite a few youngsters today. Most of the young players played well as the Reds went on to win comfortably.
On that note, let's take a look at the three factors which stood out today:
#1 Liverpool started with early dominance but Shrewsbury scored
Liverpool started the match as strongly as expected and dominated possession early on. During the first 15 minutes, Liverpool had around 88% ball possession, as Shrewsbury Town struggled to get hold of the ball.
Liverpool started the match in a 4-3-3 formation with youngsters like Gordon, Tyler Morton, Conor Bradley and Elijah Dixon-Bonner in the starting line-up. The likes of Virgil van Dijk, Ibrahima Konate and Fabinho kept playing long balls to their forwards. Curtis Jones fell back repeatedly across the left flank to collect the ball.
However, it was through the right flank that Liverpool made the most of their attacks as Gordon and Bradley combined well. Bradley frequently made overlapping runs but struggled to cope defensively as Shrewsbury made a few attacks through the left flank. They played a few crosses from the left flank and one such cross from the left was met by Udoh for the opening goal of the match.
The goal was scored against the run of play and shocked the capacity crowd. A few minutes later, Ryan Bowman put the ball in the Liverpool net with a header from yet another cross from the left flank. But he was in an offside position before doing so.
#2 Liverpool made a come-back with two goals in the first half
The goal jolted Liverpool and they started launching more attacks on Shrewsbury Town with a vengeance. The full-backs kept making overlapping runs through either flank and played crosses into the box too. However, prior to conceding the goal, the Reds struggled to put enough men inside the box to receive those crosses.
The scenario changed as and when Bradley played a grounded cross from the right flank and Gordon was there inside the box to receive it. The 17-year-old finished coolly with his left foot. Liverpool were back on level terms and their supporters breathed a sigh of relief.
Shrewsbury Town then conceded a soft penalty to allow Liverpool to go ahead. The ball was played into the Shrewsbury Town penalty box from a free-kick and one of their defenders leaped and raised his hand to touch it. Fabinho converted from the spot to put his side 2-1 ahead.
#3 Liverpool scored again in the second half as Shrewsbury Town struggled to cope
Liverpool made a few changes in the second half and the difference in class between the two teams became more apparent. Firmino and Takumi Minamino were introduced to the attack. Minamino started playing as a left winger and Jones shifted to central midfield.
As a result of those changes, Liverpool’s passing became quicker and their attack became slicker. Firmino dropped down frequently to receive balls to try to put more pressure on the Shrewsbury Town defense.
However, Liverpool had to wait till the 78th minute for their third goal. Fabinho played the ball to an advancing Bradley inside the box and the latter played a cross from near the goal-line again. The ball went to Konate, who played the ball forward to Firmino, whose back-heel found the net. It was Firmino’s seventh goal of the season.
Fabinho then scored his second after receiving the ball inside the box from a free-kick to complete an emphatic win for the home side. Klopp introduced 18-year old James Norris in injury-time to make it a red-letter day for yet another youngster.
