ReactionArne Slot press conference: Plymouth Argyle 1-0 Liverpool
Arne Slot gave his verdict on Liverpool's 1-0 defeat by Plymouth Argyle in the Emirates FA Cup in a post-match press conference.
The Reds exited the competition at Home Park on Sunday afternoon as a Ryan Hardie penalty secured victory for the hosts.
Read on to see what the head coach had to say about the fourth-round contest...
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Watch on YouTubeOn his reflections on the game...
The result is obvious, it's a big disappointment, and the way we played [there] wasn't a lot to be happy about as well. The only thing I was happy about is that the boys kept on fighting for 100 minutes and probably the best part of our game were the last 10 minutes. So, that tells you that they kept on fighting. But credit to them, a good game plan, they worked incredibly hard and they got a penalty that was deserved, because it was a clear penalty; a correct decision. But that had a lot of impact on the game, of course, because both teams hardly had any chances and all of a sudden you get a penalty kick. Again, which was the correct decision, but they were 1-0 up and kept on fighting until the end. The goalkeeper made one or two good saves in the end, but we hardly created anything at all.
On whether he had any 'regrets' about his team selection...
No, because you never know what will happen if we would have played with our starters over here. I think we've seen during this season, we've seen a few times already, that it's a game plan, a playing style, which is difficult for our starters, but also for the ones that played today. So, constantly long balls, second balls, long balls, second balls. It's difficult for every team. We had it with [Manchester] United at home for example as well. They had a similar playing style going to a very low block [then] kick every ball long, and then we played with our starters. I think today also showed why we played with the ones we played with today because these players need game rhythm as well. For them to be ready in the upcoming months, they need game time, and you saw today that some of these players really need games like this to be ready for the last three months of the season.
On feeling like there would be a leveller in the flurry of chances at the end...
Yes, there were one or two big chances, but I think if a team is working so hard and throws themselves for every ball they are in a certain kind of momentum. Then maybe you deserve to be a bit lucky as well in the end. Then the goalkeeper made one or two great saves, but this is what you see a lot, if they would've played 10 to 15 per cent less, or worked 10 to 15 per cent less, we probably would've scored it. But you see many times that if a team brings such a performance in, you saw it yesterday with [Manchester] City, they missed a big chance in the end the other team. So, sometimes you deserve a bit of luck if you work as hard as Plymouth did today.
On what the schedule has been like for the players left out of his squad...
They trained yesterday and they will train tomorrow again. Most of the things we do, we do for a reason - we just don't do it all of a sudden, something. I said before that we have to play many games now. The Aston Villa game comes during the week again as well. The last few weeks we have played every single week two times. The upcoming weeks we have to play every single time two games. Therefore it's not only for them good to once in a while have a week where they only play one game, but also for the ones that were here today, they need the intensity of the game because you can keep on training with them but once in a while they need a game as well. They had that as well against PSV, unfortunately we lost that one, and they had that today and unfortunately we lost this one again as well.
On what he said to Isaac Mabaya after taking him off having been earlier substituted on...
I think it is a fantastic moment for every player to make your debut and for him as well. But I felt I had to take him off for two reasons. He was already on a yellow and it was a game with a lot of duels and a lot of intensity and that's their playing style. They bring a lot of long balls in, so if you're one time wrong then it's a yellow again, and it was a game that was hard enough with 11, let alone with 10. And I felt we needed to make an offensive substitution and the other three were Jarell [Quansah], Wata [Endo] and Kostas [Tsimikas] and that didn't seem smart to me to take one of these three off. I took that decision, and I thought I had to tell him because making your debut and then to be taken off after an hour or something like that is very disappointing for him of course.