Arne Slot Reacts to Liverpool’s Shock FA Cup Exit at Plymouth Argyle
More shocking than the 1-0 scoreline even was just how poorly a side with a number of good first team players in it performed in Sunday’s cup ouster.
Liverpool are first in the Premier League. First into the knockout rounds of the Champions League. Into the League Cup final. And on the other side of things, Plymouth Argyle are last in the Championship. And none of the rest of that stuff.
Nobody really expected Plymouth to win on Sunday, then. Probably that includes Plymouth players or their supporters, who all might have dreamed of a Magic of the Cup™ result but in all likelihood never seriously expected to actually get it.
“The result is obvious, it’s a big disappointment,” Liverpool manager said after Sunday’s shock 1-0 defeat that will make his Reds the talking point of the tournament for at least this round and quite possibly all the way until the final gets played.
“The way we played there is not a lot to be happy about. The only thing I was happy about is the boys kept fighting and probably the best part of our game was the last ten. But credit to [Plymouth], a good game plan, they worked incredibly hard.”
Slot resisted the urge to discuss individuals in a bad light and focused on the difficulty of facing a side with Plymouth’s physicality that sits deep and hits long balls—comparing it to the approach of Manchester United at Anfield in January.
Still, perhaps the real shock for many wasn’t the result but how poorly a Liverpool side with some key first team players in it performed. Heading into the match, in fact, it looked a side that might have been viable against Premier League opposition.
There were kids, sure, and plenty of rotation, but Diogo Jota led a forward line with Luis Diaz and Federico Chiesa. Wataru Endo and Harvey Elliott started in midfield. Joe Gomez and Jarell Quansah and Kostas Tsimikas were in the back line.
It wasn’t Slot’s strongest eleven by any means, but it was filled with good players—players who in many cases fans have regularly suggested should have a part to play in Slot’s strongest eleven. Few will be calling for such changes now.
“Their goalkeeper made one or two good saves in the end but we hardly created anything,” Slot added. “I think we’ve seen during this season that it’s a playing style which is difficult for our starters—but also for the ones that played today.
“So constant long balls, second balls, long balls, second balls. We had it with [Manchester] United at home for example as well. They had a similar style going to a very low block and kick every ball long—and then we played with starters.”
Source: liverpooloffside.sbnation.com
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