As soon as you have to introduce rules forcing teams to play x number of first team players or have to fine teams to force them to take the competition seriously, the cause is lost. The FA Cup is shot.

Klopp should have been there last night, he’s the main figurehead of the club besides the owner.

Is there an actual obligation to even enter the cup? Surely if Liverpool have no interest then why even enter the competition?

Back in the day, the FA cup was the biggie, but also most of the players were British who had grown up with the FA cup; so I'd suggest that the attitude to the competition was different. To play in the FA Cup final was for many player the pinnacle of their career particularly if you won. With so many foreign players in the British game its small wonder the FA cup does not have the same sentimentality or hold the lure that it once did. Of course as mentioned by smiler there's the financial pull from the other competitions

Liverpool have shown the oldest Cup competition in football the ultimate disrespect but they'll escape sanctions due to who they are.
EFL clubs risk a fine if they don't play so many 1st team players in the Leasing.com trophy, double standards doesn't even come close. More worrying from a fans point of view is that Liverpool's kids won the game adding even more fuel (they'll call it evidence) to the PL's ultimate aim of getting the "elite" team's academy sides in the pyramid & eventually the Football League which the PL & the top clubs want. They've looked at the League system in Germany & Spain & want that here.