Klopp set to repeat Liverpool decision that "didn't sit right" with Alan Shearer

Jurgen Klopp is set to field a team of youngsters for Liverpool's FA Cup third-round clash against Shrewsbury Town due to the club's current Covid-19 outbreak.

The Reds shut down their training ground on Tuesday with their Carabao Cup semi-final first leg at Arsenal postponed 48 hours later.

The Reds have had to quickly turn their attention to Sunday's fixture at home with Shrewsbury, however, which is still set to go ahead despite much of the first-team, Klopp and assistant Pep Lijnders currently isolating.

Liverpool's Under-18s' FA Youth Cup game against Burnley on Friday evening was also called off, hinting that many of Marc Bridge-Wilkinson's men may heavily feature at the weekend.

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This isn't the first time that Liverpool have played their kids against Shrewsbury at Anfield without Klopp in the dugout.

Two years ago, the Reds boss picked a team comprised entirely of youngsters for his side's FA Cup fourth-round replay with the League One outfit as Curtis Jones secured a 1-0 victory.

Klopp also handed managerial duties to Under-23 boss Neil Critchley as the fixture was scheduled within Liverpool's winter break - a decision that came under fire.

The German boss didn't want his squad's time off cut short due to the congested schedule that was ahead of them for the second half of the season.

Alan Shearer understood Klopp's rationale to rest his first-team stars but his decision to be absent from the Liverpool dugout 'didn't sit right' with the former Newcastle striker.

The BBC pundit said: "I understand his point in terms of his players having a break that they were told they were going to have.

"He is the manager of that football club, he can put whatever team he wants out to try and get the result.

"What doesn't sit easy with me is that he is the manager, for me he should be there at the ground this evening giving the support to those young players that he's picked.

"He can still have his holiday. He can get on a plane tonight somewhere and go wherever he wants for five or six days.

"But in terms of the team he's picked, I haven't got a problem with that. It looks as though they're doing well and enjoying it."

Shearer wasn't the only one who held this viewpoint as former Birmingham striker Clinton Morrison told the BBC: "If I was one of those youngsters, I would've liked Jurgen Klopp to have been there, win, lose or draw, to have put an arm around me and say I had done well.

"But he's made his decision and he's one of those managers that has credit in the bank because he's been so good."

Klopp defended his decision at the time, saying: "In April 2019, we got a letter from the Premier League where they asked us to respect the winter break, not to organise friendlies and not to organise competitive games in respect of it," he stated.

"I have said to the boys already, two weeks ago, that we will have a winter break, so it means we will not be there -- it will be the kids who play that game because they cannot deal with us like nobody cares about it.

"I know it is not very popular, but that's the way I see it. The Premier League asked us to respect the winter break and that's what we'll do.

"If then the FA do not respect it then we cannot change. But we will not be there."

This time around, Klopp will have no choice but to be missing from the dugout, along with Liverpool's first-team stars, due to the significant number of positive cases in the Reds camp, but history is set to repeat itself nonetheless with Shrewsbury set to visit Anfield on Sunday without the presence of the big Merseyside hitters.