Plymouth 1-0 Liverpool: 3 talking points as FA Cup rotation backfires on Arne Slot | OneFootball

Liverpool's FA Cup journey came to an abrupt end as they fell to a shock 1-0 defeat to Plymouth Argyle on Sunday.

Arne Slot rotated his side with the Merseyside derby in mind and was paid to pay as his disjointed side fell well short of the standards expected of them. Ryan Hardie's second-half penalty proved the difference, sealing a famous FA Cup upset for the Championship's bottom side.

How the game unfolded

Having made ten changes to his starting lineup, Slot would not have been surprised by Liverpool's disjointed start to proceedings, with Joe Gomez's early injury only further disrupting things for the Reds. Plymouth were happy to cede possession to their famous visitors, who found it hard to break them down.

Plymouth were frustrated not to be awarded a penalty on the half-hour mark when Mustapha Bundu went to ground under pressure from Kostas Tsimikas, but they were undoubtedly the happier of the two sides when the half-time whistle sounded. James McConnell's deflected strike from range was the game's only effort on target in the first half.

Seven minutes after the restart, Plymouth got the penalty they wanted. Harvey Elliott jumped to block a speculative pass with his arms raised high and was penalised for swatting the ball away. Up stepped Hardie to send Caoimhin Kelleher the wrong way.

Hardie struck the post shortly after, before Plymouth's focus turned to defending. The entire back line were excellent and goalkeeper Conor Hazard played his part with two fantastic saves to deny Diogo Jota and Jarell Quansah deep into injury time as Plymouth held on for a memorable FA Cup upset.

Second string Liverpool come unstuck

Chiesa missed his opportunity / HENRY NICHOLLS/GettyImages

This was clearly not the Liverpool side that has taken both the Premier League and Champions League by storm this season, but there is no iteration of the Reds that should not be able to make light work of a Plymouth side scrapping for their lives at the very bottom of England's second tier.

The forward line of Federico Chiesa, Diogo Jota and Luis Diaz fell shockingly short of expectations and managed very little which will have aided their quest for more minutes in Slot's A-team.

It will be a learning curve for the youngsters in the squad, who were let down by the senior names who should have offered far more.

Slot's squad gamble costs Reds

Slot took a risk / HENRY NICHOLLS/GettyImages

With Wednesday's Merseyside derby inching closer, Slot made it clear he was prioritising Everton over Plymouth when his team sheet emerged here. Not only had the boss gone young, but he left most of the team's biggest names at home.

Alisson, Virgil van Dijk, Ibrahima Konate, Conor Bradley, Andy Robertson Ryan Gravenberch, Alexis Mac Allister, Dominik Szoboszlai, Mohamed Salah and Cody Gakpo all did not travel as Slot warned his reserve side they should have enough about them to get the job done.

That show of faith from Slot has now been punished as Liverpool's quest for the quadruple comes to an abrupt end at the hands of a side who have conceded 63 goals in 30 Championship games this season.

Gomez limps off again

Gomez limped off early / Dan Mullan/GettyImages

It was a miserable day for Joe Gomez, whose return from a hamstring injury lasted just nine minutes.

An awkward clearance made it clear something was wrong with the versatile defender, who soon sat himself on the ground and informed the Liverpool bench that he could no longer continue. With so many senior players left at home, it sparked a debut for young Isaac Mabaya off the bench.

The Merseyside derby is coming up on Wednesday, and while Gomez was never likely to start, his absence puts real pressure on Virgil van Dijk and Ibrahima Konate to stay healthy until he returns.

Check out the player ratings from Plymouth 1-0 Liverpool here.