Though Liverpool put out a second-string side, Plymouth Argyle’s setup to beat them in the FA Cup was impressive and thwarted the Reds for 90 minutes.

Despite Arne Slot throwing whatever substitutes he could on in the second half and Liverpool pushing higher up the pitch in search of a goal, Plymouth’s compact structure was not to be broken.

It’s a testament to how far tactics out of possession have come that a side 24th in the Championship who have conceded 63 goals this season could keep Liverpool at bay for the entire cup tie.

A calculated, reasonable risk was made by Arne Slot to ring the changes with Liverpool’s hectic schedule, but the plan backfired.

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Was there enough on the pitch to try and beat Plymouth Argyle?

Perhaps there was but Liverpool ran into a solid block that was well thought out.

The make-shift back four meant Liverpool not only lost Virgil Van Dijk and Ibrahima Konate’s skills at stopping attacks, but crucially their ability to play killer passes into midfield.

The other major problem Liverpool had was four Plymouth Argyle players would surround both midfielders receiving in the centre of the pitch, halting their progression in the middle.

Whilst on the right hand side, you can see Diogo Jota dropping deeper, there isn’t a pass on to Wataru Endo or Harvey Elliot in midfield.

But with them not picked in the squad, Liverpool would often just look to go wide and Plymouth would step in to make a challenge.

Players like Salah and Alexander-Arnold are special for a reason and conjure something out of nothing, so I don’t necessarily think that Arne Slot underestimated Plymouth, more so he felt the players on the pitch were enough to find solutions.

Plymouth’s defensive shape was better than expected.

I know people will take a look at the score line and line-ups and think ‘ah second string team’ but you still have to put in the defensive effort and organisation.

Impressively, there were clear instructions you could see from Miron Muslic’s side that helped frustrate Liverpool – resulting in the greatest cup result in their history by Plymouth’s own admission.

If multiple Plymouth players were central blocking the passes off to both midfielders in the middle and attempting to close down Liverpool’s centre-backs, a wide full-back (Tymoteusz Puchacz) would step up and cover one of the midfielders trying to find space out wide.

When Puchacz come steps out, he travels far up the pitch to make sure Harvey Elliot is marked in Liverpool’s build-up.

As a result, Liverpool look to go wide to the opposing flank.

The pass is not up to scratch and a Plymouth player can intercept.

Plymouth ended up putting Liverpool in situations where it was on players how don’t normally get first team games and were rusty to try conjure something up.

If the system and build-up aren’t finding gaps, it’s up to the players whose life was made difficult by a buoyed home crowd and fired-up players.

As Liverpool chased the game in the second half, there wasn’t too much change.

Whether it was a midfielder dropping deeper to receive the ball or another midfielder trying to drag a Plymouth midfielder closer to defence.

Staggeringly, Liverpool had 75% possession and though Conor Hazard was called upon to produce some good saves for Plymouth at times, they were more towards the end where Liverpool pushed for an equaliser and chased the game.

Despite having most of the ball, Liverpool produces 4 shots on target.

There is still plenty to play for in Liverpool’s season and they are very well placed for a fantastic, successful 2024/25 but the risk taken in resting players vs a team in the Championship backfired with some help from the magic of the FA Cup.

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