Liverpool vs Shrewsbury result: Curtis Jones stars again as Reds reluctantly roll on in FA Cup

There are teams who try desperately to progress in Cup competitions and yet get knocked out. And then there is Liverpool who, it seems, are quite content to go out and yet still progress. Without their players, lacking their manager, they nonetheless booked an FA Cup fifth-round tie at Chelsea.

They did so in farcical fashion, Shrewsbury scoring a second comical own goal of a strange tie. And yet Liverpool’s winning mentality feels so strong that they can hamstring themselves and yet go through, if not by accident, then by habit. It felt a sequel to the Carabao Cup win against Arsenal, when Curtis Jones was not supposed to take the fifth penalty but still scored it, and the FA Cup tie against Everton, when Jones’ spectacular goal decided the Merseyside derby Jurgen Klopp appeared willing to lose.

With Jones as Liverpool’s youngest ever captain, leading their youngest ever side under the auspices of the Under-23 manager Neil Critchley, this completed the Curtis Jones trilogy. And yet Liverpool overcame Shrewsbury over 180 minutes with the aid of two Old Trafford old boys.

They donated Shrewsbury’s odd own goals. The first came courtesy of Donald Love, formerly of Manchester United, in the initial tie. The second was scored by Ro-Shaun Williams, formerly of Manchester United, in this replay. It was, though, a product of two Williamses. Liverpool’s Neco Williams aimed a diagonal ball forward. The backtracking Shrewsbury defender met it with a header that cleared goalkeeper Max O’Leary and dropped into the empty net.

Neco Williams merited his part in the decider. He provided much of Liverpool’s goal threat. A drive whistled wide, a volley flew over and a shot was well repelled by O’Leary . He could have had a hat-trick that would have been a rarity for Liverpool defenders – even Steve Nicol and Steve Staunton’s trebles in the 1980s came in more advanced roles – and staked his case to understudy Trent Alexander-Arnold as Anfield’s marauding right-back. Like Jones, he has looked fearless in his first-team outings.

Harvey Elliott teed Neco Williams up beautifully for one chance, but the winger missed his own best opportunity with a tame header. Really, however, two youngsters dominated the game. Jones has the charisma to command the attention and the talent to suggest this will not be the last time he leads Liverpool. The precocious, audacious Jones crossed with a rabona. It was a moment when it felt technique versus physique. Jones had suffered a nosebleed a couple of minutes earlier when caught, albeit accidentally, by Ro-Shaun Williams. This was his response.

He is the first Liverpool captain born in the 21st century. Their average age was 19 years, 102 days – some 80 days younger than the 11 selected against Aston Villa in December – and the average date of birth was 25 October 1999. Even the oldest, Pedro Chirivella, was not conceived when Liverpool’s Spice Boys wore their infamous white suits at Wembley before the 1996 FA Cup final.

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Five things we learned from Liverpool vs Shrewsbury

The squad numbers amounted to 703, the previous Liverpool appearances to just 36, one more than the number of games Chirivella played for Willem II. For Shrewsbury, the resonant number was 134 years: founded in 1886, they finally made it to Anfield in 2020.

There was another historic first: Shrewsbury had a goal ruled out via VAR. The Liverpool fan Shaun Whalley celebrated after heading in, only for technology to spot substitute Daniel Udoh offside in the buildup.

They were too timid in the first half, when they showed Liverpool so much respect it appeared they thought they were facing the senior side. They opened up more thereafter, but it counted as a missed opportunity for them.