Arne Slot said his Liverpool players fell well short of expectations after being stunned by the Championship's bottom club, Plymouth Argyle, in the FA Cup on Sunday. 

Ryan Hardie's penalty eight minutes after half-time proved to be the difference, halting the Reds' hopes of a potential quadruple this season firmly in its tracks. 

Indeed, Plymouth were the first side from outside the Premier League to eliminate the team top of the top-flight since Wigan Athletic against Manchester City in February 2018.

It was also the first time Liverpool were knocked out of the competition by a lower league opponent while leading the table since January 1984 against Brighton.

With a final Merseyside derby at Goodison Park on the horizon for Liverpool, Slot made 10 changes to the side that beat Tottenham in their EFL Cup semi-final second leg on Thursday.

Caoimhin Kelleher was the only player to keep his place in the side, with the likes of Federico Chiesa, Jarell Quansah and Wataru Endo handed rare starts. 

And speaking after the game, Slot said that a number of his fringe players failed to impress him at Home Park. 

"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," he said.

"But we expected to play a better game than this, but we give credit to Plymouth as well.

"It hurts everyone that's involved with Liverpool, fans, me, players, we all wanted 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."

For Plymouth, meanwhile, they celebrated reaching the fifth round of the FA Cup for the first time since 2006-07. 

They have now knocked two Premier League clubs out of the competition this season (Brentford and Liverpool), having only ever beaten top-flight opponents twice in their history beforehand (West Ham in 1961-62, West Brom in 1983-84).

Among a string of impressive displays for the Pilgrims, defender Nikola Katic shone, putting his body on the line which saw him lose a tooth early on in the contest. 

Katic made 11 headed clearances today, the most by a player in a match against Liverpool since March 2020 (Stefan Savic for Atletico Madrid, 11).

But the Bosnian was quick to praise Plymouth goalkeeper Conor Hazard after he made a number of stops late on to deny Darwin Nunez and Diogo Jota an equalising goal. 

"This is why I came here. It is good to get confidence about this win. We did good with the defensive structure and everybody gave their 100%," Katic said to ITV.

"We did what the coach asked from us. That is it. I hated Hazard when I got here because he's a Celtic guy, and I'm a massive Rangers guy, but he gave us this win today."

Plymouth boss Miron Muslic, who replaced Wayne Rooney in January, relished the moment as Argyle wrote a famous page in the FA Cup's storied history book.

But with a huge clash against Millwall to come next Wednesday, Muslic believes that their victory over Liverpool could be a turning point in what has been a disappointing season. 

"Speechless and they tell me I'm eloquent," he said. "Another chapter in Argyle's history. The desire to defend, it's Liverpool, they will be on you. But the lads are fantastic.

"It's a big moment. I think I will only realise that when I leave the stadium tonight, when I get back to my apartment for a quiet moment.

"We also needed a bit of luck, and we had that, but I feel we deserve this today. It's a magical day for us.

"But we have to go again on Wednesday [against Millwall in the Championship]. We showed togetherness today. I think we are ready."