Arne Slot had taken an impeccable beginning for his time as manager in English football until he takes his Liverpool team to one of the great outposts of our match to play a fourth round equality From FA Cup to Home Park.
He had negotiated his succession to Jurgen Klopp with skills and insurance consumed, qualified them at the top of the new table in the Champions League and led them to the top of the Premier League, where they are hot favorites to win the title.
But Sunday, Slot made his first mistake. He underestimated Plymouth Argyle, who had only won once in the last three months and was at the bottom of the championship, he underestimated the Green Army and he underestimated the sustainable power of FA CUP.
Slot made 10 modifications to the side that passed the spurss spent in the semi-finals of the Carabao Cup last week and did not even include Ryan Gravenberch, Alexis Mac Allister, Andy Robertson, Mo Salah, Virgil Van Dijk, Alisson, Ibrahima Konate, Conor Bradley, Dominik Szoboszlai or Cody Gakpo in his team.
This left its bench dangerously threadbar and when a team composed marginal players and promising children of the Academy struggled to deal with the physicity and skills of Plymouth or threaten their defense in any way whatsoever , he did not have the reinforcements to make changes that were counting.
And when Plymouth took the lead with a second half penalty from Ryan Hardie, Liverpool could not force an equalizer. On a field a few kilometers from Plymouth Hoe, the local team had two central defenders, Maksym Talovov and Nikola Katic who could have repelled the Spanish armada by themselves if they were there when Sir Francis Drake needed it.
Ryan Hardie (center) scored the only goal of the match while Plymouth Argyle was beating Liverpool
Hardie scored from the place in the second half to seal a historic victory of FA for his side
Hardie sent the Liverpool goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher in the wrong direction to break the dead end
Instead, they just repelled Liverpool. The halves of the center, which are from Ukraine and Bosnia, were respectively magnificent and heroic in the way they embarked on everything that Liverpool launched them in the subsequent stages of the game. They were skillfully encouraged by the Guardian Conor Hazard, who achieved a series of amazing savings in the dying minutes.
And so the team that many believe is the best in world football this season fell to the men in Devon. It was the shock of the round, of course. It will be the shock of the season. And even if Liverpool played a second team, it was another wonderful reminder of the beauty that this competition can evoke.
It is long that the best clubs have chosen their strongest XI for matches like this, but the FA Cup is the competition which refuses to die even in the way it fell from the list of priorities of ‘elite.
It was always clear that the selection of the slot team was going to be a bet, in particular given the attitude of his opposite number, the chief coach of Plymouth, Miron Muslic, who clearly felt the possibility. “We are an outsider,” said Muslic, “but we want to be a courageous outsider”.
Roaring by the green army, Plymouth began strongly. Pumping the ball in Mustapha Bundu for a long time and using the rhythm in the sides, they launched two quick counterattacks that stretched Liverpool and needed last millets.
Liverpool suffered a hit less than ten minutes after the start of the match when their captain, Joe Gomez, who is only a long implementation of injuries, injured when he was released. Gomez immediately knew that something was wrong. He looked devastated as he headed for the key line to be substituted.
Liverpool, not surprisingly, did not have their usual insurance and even if the leaders of the Premier League dominated possession, Plymouth began to put them under pressure at the end of the half.
Ten minutes before the interval, Bundu, who won many air challenges, fell into a heap with Kostas Tsimikas in the box, but referee Sam Barrott signaled calls for a penalty.
The goal turned out to be the winner of the championship club who achieved a huge upheaval
The hopes of Arne Slot to win a quadruple ended as he played a weakened
A few minutes later, Liverpool did not manage to erase a long throw and rebounded on the knee of a defender on the way of Darko Gyabi, who was 14 meters. Gyabi fell him towards the goal, but he flew over the crossbar.
Plymouth threatened again after half-time. Callum Wright escaped the left and turned inside Isaac Mabaya on his right foot. His fierce journey was on the target until he was deflected by the head of Wataru Endo. He could have gone anywhere but he flew over the bar.
It was as if a goal would happen. Seven minutes after the break, Gyabi attempted an aerial kick in the Liverpool region and he struck the tense arm of Harvey Elliott. It was a clear and Ryan Hardie penalty sent it forcefully in front of Caoimhin Kelleher, who plunged in the wrong direction.
The goal forced credibility in action. He brought Mabaya, who had been an early substitute for Gomez, and threw Darwin Nunez, who had warmed significantly at half-time, in the fray. I felt like it could be his type of game.
No sooner had come, however, that Plymouth almost doubled their lead. Nikola Katic, who had lost a tooth in the exercise of his functions in the first half, got up superbly to direct a free kick through the goal. Hardie checked it, turned and pulled. Kelleher had a slight touch that turned him to the post.
Liverpool pressed an equalizer but Plymouth suffered their real first fear only two minutes from the end of normal time. Katic and Plymouth goalkeeper Conor Hazard, both opted for the same long ball from Liverpool and when Katic directed James McConnell, Hazard was blocked. McConnell took the ball but broke his shot rightly.
The Reds were very likely to score but could not have them count on the day
It was a day to remember for house fans when they beat one of the best world teams
There were dismays of dismay when the fourth official table showed that there would be nine minutes of an additional time and that only a couple had passed when Hazard made a brilliant flight backup from a snapshot by Diogo JOTA.
In the moving seconds, Hazard made another fantastic backup, based on a head at close range of Nunez.
Kelleher was standing for the resulting corner, but when the ball came to him, he could only nod the head in the hands of Plymouth goalkeeper. Kelleher got used to being a cup hero in the past. This time it was someone else’s turn.
