Whenever Liverpool lose a football match, especially in this day and age when they have been challenging for honours virtually every season, it is seen as a complete disaster by some. Supporters aren’t used to losing matches in the way that we grew to be under Roy Hodgson, amongst others, so it feels as though there has to be an inquest every time we do.
The problem is, sometimes this leads to a complete over-exaggeration of the circumstances and a complete lack of willingness to look at the why, just at the fact it happened.
It was Plymouth Argyle’s Biggest Game of the Season
Sometimes the opposition is completely forgotten about when discussing a cup ‘upset’. Given how rarely it is that top-flight teams exit the likes of the FA Cup in the early rounds at the hands of a side lower down the pecking order than them, when it happens all of the focus is on the Premier League team. As a result, when Plymouth Argyle defeated Liverpool in the fourth round match of the competition at Home Park, all of the post-match conversation was about how it was about the Merseysiders not playing well enough rather than praising Plymouth.
@restisfootballPlymouth in a shock result knocked out Slot’s Liverpool 👀♬ original sound – THE REST IS FOOTBALL
It was the biggest game in Argyle’s season, which could be seen in the way that both Nikola Katic and Maksym Talovierov continuously put their bodies on the line in pursuit of a famous victory. Indeed, Katic got his tooth knocked out early in the first-half but continued gamely, knowing how important his presence was to the team. New manager Miron Muslic has impressed since taking over, getting a tune out of his team, which was keen to demonstrate to the home supporters that they were together and weren’t ready to write the season off just yet.
It Wasn’t Really Top of the Premier League v Bottom of the Championship
On paper, the game saw the team at the top of the Premier League taking on the side that was bottom of the Championship. In the years to come, that is what the history books will show should someone choose to look at where the two teams were at the time of kick-off. Yet it is also far too simplistic a point of view. Plymouth had been managed by Wayne Rooney since the start of the season, with everyone who pays even a modicum of interest in football knowing he is a terrible manager who only gets employed because he was a talented player.
The magic of the FA Cup. Congratulations Plymouth Argyle.
Liverpool made 9 changes and played too many kids and that inexperience coupled with a passionate and defiant Argyle performance sees the best team in the country out of the FA Cup.
You can only congratulate the deserved winners.
— Football Librettist ⚽ 🎶🤝🇨🇦 (@footballlibrettist.bsky.social) February 9, 2025 at 5:01 PM
Miron Muslic was appointed on the tenth of January and has impressed, getting a draw against Sunderland before defeating West Bromwich Albion, as well as seeing his side win away at Premier League opposition Brentford in the previous round of the FA Cup. Four days after beating Liverpool, Argyle won against Millwall in the Championship. Although they remain in the relegation zone at the time of writing, they are just two points away from 21st and it is easy to see a world in which the manager keeps them in the second tier for next season.
@jaspertaylor_ How Plymouth’s Miron Muslic plans to celebrate one of the biggest FA Cup upsets, as his side beat Premier League leaders Liverpool #premierleague #plymouth #liverpool #liverpoolfc #lfc ♬ original sound – Jasper | Sky Sports Presenter
Liverpool, meanwhile, made ten changes from their previous game. The side that lined up at Home Park bore virtually no resemblance to a team that supporters have grown used to watching in recent times. Although Luis Diaz, Diogo Jota and Federico Chiesa are all top-class internationals, two of them lacked match fitness and the other has been struggling for form. Alongside them were a bunch of kids, made worse when Joe Gomez went off injured early on and was replaced by someone most supporters had never even heard of.
Something had to Give in Liverpool’s Season
No side has ever won the quadruple. In fact, it was Liverpool who came the closest in the 2021-2022 season, winning the FA Cup and League Cup whilst missing out on the Premier League title by a point and losing in the final of the Champions League to Real Madrid. No other team has even got that close, with what happened to the Reds the year after being a sign of just how much playing every single game in a season can take out of a side. With that in mind, it is perhaps no surprise that something was going to give at some point in the season.
When you look at the competitions at the start of the season, you would put the FA Cup above the League Cup in terms of importance. That you can reach the semi-finals of the League Cup before the FA Cup even gets underway, however, means that priorities change. In this case, the Reds knew that they had a really good chance of winning the League Cup, but in order to do so they would have to make sacrifices elsewhere. It is obvious that the Premier League is priority number one and the Champions League number two, so the FA Cup dropped down to fourth.
Was it Even That Big a Shock?
On the face of it, it looks like a massive shock. First in the Premier League defeated by bottom of the Championship is less than ideal for the top-flight team. As I have already discussed, though, it isn’t really that simple. If you take into account the points I’ve already made then it was ‘Premier League team loses to Championship team’. That is not all that much of a shock and similar things have happened countless times before. In 1991-1992, for example, Arsenal went to bottom of Fourth Division Wrexham as reigning champions and were beaten.
Last place club in the division below Premier League just beat the top placed side in said Premier League! No other sport in the world can boast such a possibility. Incredible.
Well done Plymouth. Liverpool? Wow! @footy_prime pic.twitter.com/aiwpLd4pnO— James Sharman.bsky.social 🥧⚽️ (@jamessharman) February 9, 2025
Chelsea were leading the Premier League in the 2014-2015 season and led 2-0 against League One’s Bradford, only for the Bantams for score four without reply. That was made even worse by the fact that the game was played at Stamford Bridge. Don’t get me wrong, of course Liverpool were expected to win the tie and it was mad that they didn’t, but I’m not even convinced that Arne Slot will be all that disappointed, having left the big-name players at home. Will he have been ‘shocked’ by the defeat? He might have even welcomed it.
