Liverpool vs Shrewsbury: Ditch the kids for injury returnees

Liverpool should ditch the kids in favour of giving minutes to the injury returnees as they play Shrewsbury in the FA Cup on Sunday.

Dejan Lovren, Joel Matip and Fabinho are all available for the game this weekend, said the Guardian, and they should be started ahead of Academy players like Sepp van den Berg or Pedro Chirivella.

The two defenders haven’t played since October, while the Brazilian holding midfielder has been out since that Napoli clash in November. Getting minutes back into their legs against a lower league opposition is a scenario sent from heaven for Jurgen Klopp and it’s not one that should be passed up on.

Klopp will rotate his squad, and you expect him to do so heavily, and there will be chances given to youngsters moving forward. Xherdan Shaqiri is out for Shrewsbury because of another calf injury, said the Daily Mail, so you can expect Harvey Elliot to feature again.

There will also be space in the side for Takumi Minamino, who came on for Sadio Mane when the forward limped off during the Wolves win, Divock Origi and Curtis Jones.

Liverpool will still be packed with young lads eager to prove themselves, but now they will be helped with a strong core of senior players. Starting with Adrian at the back, the team should have plenty of first team experience and leaders throughout the side as they look to advance to the next round of the FA Cup.

For those who miss out, Chrivella probably won’t be at the club next season – even if he did impress against Everton – while van den Berg has been earmarked for the future and will get his chances in the coming years.

We will need Fabinho, Lovren and Matip fit for the Champions League and Premier League run in, and getting them up to speed must take priority for now.