"We expected to play a better game than this" - Arne Slot says Liverpool's loss to Plymouth Argyle 'hurts' as they exit FA Cup

Liverpool boss Arne Slot has expressed his disappointment at his side’s 1-0 loss to Plymouth Argyle in the Fourth Round of the FA Cup on Sunday (February 9). Slot opined that his side didn’t perform up to their expected standard and said the defeat pained him, as they exited the competition.

Slot decided to rest his first-team players ahead of the Premier League Merseyside derby (against Everton) on Wednesday (February 12). He named a heavily rotated starting XI against Plymouth.

The decision, however, didn’t pay dividends as Liverpool suffered a 1-0 defeat at Home Park, thanks to Ryan Hardie’s spot kick in the 53rd minute.

Speaking after the game, Slot was critical of his players' performance. He told ITV Sport (via Mirror):

"It's a great day for Plymouth. They had a good gameplan and they deserve all the credit for their performance today. We were not having a very good day, and a result like this is the outcome."

He continued:

"I don't think I can say the boys didn't fight, because it was a fight for 100 minutes. Both teams didn't really create many chances and the game was decided by a penalty that was awarded correctly. But in a game like this where the teams aren't able to find many openings it is up to one moment and that moment was for them, and like I said, they deserved it because they played a really good game."

Slot added that his players didn’t perform up to expectations and that he was hurt by the defeat.

"I think (the players here today) are able to do better, but this is a playing style that is quite hard to create your chances against, which is what we saw today. But we expected to play a better game than this, but we give credit to Plymouth as well," Slot said.

"It hurts everyone that's involved with Liverpool, fans, me, players, we were all wanting to be in this competition but if you go out in one of the first possible games, that’s a setback. Today we kept on fighting until the last second. Maybe the only chances we created were in the last 10-15 minutes, so it wasn't a work rate problem, but we couldn't find openings and chances," he concluded.

Arne Slot defends his team selection after Liverpool’s 1-0 loss to Plymouth in FA Cup

Arne Slot defended his team selection after his heavily-rotated Liverpool side crashed out of the FA Cup with a 1-0 loss to Plymouth. The Dutchman made 10 changes to the side that defeated Tottenham Hotspur 4-0 in the Carabao Cup semi-final second leg last Thursday (February 6).

On Sunday, Ryan Hardie gave the Championship side the lead from the spot in the second half but Liverpool couldn’t respond. On the team selection, Slot said (via Sky Sports):

"We have to play many games. The last few weeks, we've played every week two times. The upcoming weeks we have to play twice. It's not only good for them [his starters] to once in a while have a week where they only play one game but also for the ones here today, they need the intensity of a game. They had that against PSV [in the Champions League]. Unfortunately, they lost that one. And they had that today and unfortunately we lost this one as well."

He added:

"Today also showed why we play with the ones we played today. These players need game rhythm as well. You saw today some of these players really need games like this to be ready for the last three months of the season."

Liverpool continue to lead the Premier League standings with 56 points from 23 games. They are six points ahead of second-placed Arsenal, who have played a game more.