Jurgen Klopp lucky to escape Liverpool FA Cup humiliation - but Exeter could have troubled full-strength Reds side

Paul Tisdale's League Two deserve their Anfield replay after a fine performance, writes Dave Kidd, but it's a shame Klopp's team selection casts a shadow on the game

Jurgen Klopp had spoken of having respect for the FA Cup.
But the godfather of heavy metal football had better start listening to a little Aretha Franklin instead. If he needs a hand, she'll tell him the word is spelt R-E-S-P-E-C-T.
Liverpool's manager may have been severely hamstrung by injuries and another victim of the midwinter fixture logjam - but by sending out a startling line-up of eight callow youths , Christian Benteke, forgotten man Luis Enrique and calamity keeper Adam Bogdan, he was lucky to escape humiliation.
It was a shame Klopp's controversial team selection should cast such a shadow over a fine Exeter performance - because such was the fervour of the crowd and the tempo of their play, you could have imagined them troubling a full-strength Liverpool, never mind this one.
For 73 minutes this looked like being Liverpool 's first-ever FA Cup defeat by a club from Football League basement - but how Paul Tisdale's men deserve their lucrative replay at Anfield which will earn them upwards of half a million pounds.
Delight: The goal had put Exeter ahead at the break
While their heroic draw came courtesy of a goal scored directly from a Lee Holmes corner, on the stroke of half-time, the scoreline was no fluke.
Liverpool teenager Jerome Sinclair equalised a classy early opener Tom Nicholls but then Klopp's kids were battered by their League Two hosts, until Aussie full-back Brad Smith snatched an equaliser.
The Reds entertain Arsenal and Manchester United within the next eight days and have one foot in the Capital One Cup Final, so there priorities are elsewhere - but Klopp's gamble has backfired with another midweek fixture now jammed in.
Liverpool's starting line-up had an average of just 22.3 and precious little top-class experience - save for Benteke, Enrique and Bogdan - who was left hugely embarrassed by Exeter's second.