Neil Critchley spoke to reporters at Melwood as a young Liverpool side take on Shrewsbury in the FA Cup fourth-round replay.

With Jurgen Klopp and the Liverpool first-team away for the winter break, U23s boss Critchley is set to lead a young Reds side against the Shrews on Tuesday night.

Liverpool squandered a 2-0 lead against Sam Ricketts' side last month as Curtis Jones' opener and an own goal by Donald Love was cancelled out by a brace from substitute Jason Cummings.

It means Liverpool's fate in a domestic cup comes down to the youngsters once again this season, as the majority of those who featured at Aston Villa in the League Cup in December will have another opportunity to put things right.

The Reds fell to a disappointing 5-0 defeat against Villa, but Critchley believes the experience was invaluable for his side, who performed better than the scoreline suggested.

“You can't buy experiences like that, it is probably worth a million of my coaching sessions,” Crtichley said.

“I thought it was a little bit harsh on us, but we have to take lessons from that. We didn't do well enough in both penalty boxes and if you are going into a results-driven business you have to win games of football.

“We didn't keep the ball at one end and didn't score at the other end and that's not a recipe for success, so our aim is to do a lot better than that tomorrow night.”

League One side Shrewsbury will undoubtedly pose a challenge for a side that is expected to be dominated by players under the age of 20.

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“We talk about bravery and courage, that can be done in so many different ways and I'm really intrigued by the game and looking forward to seeing how they do. I hope the supporters will be too,” Critchley said.

On how he evaluates the opposition, he added: “They're extremely hard to beat, are well organised and they have a threat on the counter-attack. They have some good players.

“I look at the divisions now and just think that they are stronger, they're getting stronger.

“Shrewsbury have got a manager who has had a very good career himself, helped by Graham Barrow who has got unbelievable years of experience in coaching and managing, so they'll know exactly what they're doing on the pitch.

“They'll be well prepared and we know it's going to be really tough. They stayed right in the game against us in the first game and got their rewards from that, so if we want to get anything from the game we're going to have to play extremely well.”