Liverpool’s Adrian cut a dejected figure after his team surrendered a two-goal lead in the second half of Sunday’s FA Cup fourth-round tie at Shrewsbury Town.
Shrewsbury’s second-half substitute Jason Cummings scored twice in ten minutes to draw the game level. Curtis Jones scored The Reds’ opener in the first half and a Donald Love own-goal, minutes after the restart, had put Liverpool two ahead.
Liverpool’s designated FA Cup goalkeeper Adrian spoke to Liverpoolfc.com after the match and the Spaniard’s frustration was plain to see.
“We are really disappointed obviously because we could have done much better than our performance tonight.
“The result at the end was fair but the penalty they got was outside the box. But they had also many chances, they had many one-v-ones and we could have defended much better than we did.
“Now we have to face the second game in Anfield to try to go through to the next round.
“They deserve all the respect we give them. We respect all the rivals obviously but when we are on the pitch it’s 11 against 11, so you give everything for the result.
“At the end, they got a draw and obviously it’s like a win for them because we have to play the second game now at Anfield.
“But we need to have a look at ourselves and criticise ourselves because we are most critical of ourselves and try to improve and keep doing like we are doing in the Premier League.”
The FA Cup is hugely important to players like Adrian, Curtis Jones, Neco Williams, Yasser Larouci, Pedro Chirivella, Harvey Elliott and Divock Origi. Elimination in the fourth round would mean significantly fewer first-team opportunities for these players over the remainder of the season.
Adrian felt that complacency began to set in after Liverpool went 2-0 up and Shrewsbury pounced on it, getting the draw they deserved.
“It’s true in football that you can never play relaxed. I think we relaxed a little bit after our second goal and after that they pushed even harder.
“They had desire and they tried to score. Then we conceded the first goal and then obviously the second one got us a bit down.
“We feel we didn’t perform tonight as good as we are.”
Liverpool must now play Shrewsbury Town in a replay at Anfield during the first team’s ‘winter break’ period.
Jurgen Klopp claimed after Sunday’s 2-2 draw that neither he nor any senior squad members will be involved in the replay. Neil Critchley will take charge of the fixture, as he did for the League Cup defeat at Villa Park in December.
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