“There was a wise man that once said to me ‘nothing good comes from losing a football game’, and I completely agree.”
By Jack Lusby, ThisIsAnfield.com
Arne Slot came out swinging after suggestions he would have been quietly happy that his rotated Liverpool lost to Championship strugglers Plymouth to exit the FA Cup.
But with a quarter-final at Manchester City now ruled out there is every reason to believe that swiftly departing one of four competitions his side are fighting for can benefit the Reds in the long run.
Things may have been much different had circumstances not changed, with Slot having planned to start Curtis Jones only to be informed by the player on the morning of the game that he was not fit enough to take part.
Similar, the head coach had clearly not factored in losing centre-back Joe Gomez to injury just 11 minutes into the tie at Home Park, prompting not only a debut for 20-year-old Isaac Mabaya but also a rejig of both defence and midfield.
And with Darwin Núñez joining the squad late following the birth of his second child in Spain earlier in the week, another likely starter was denied Slot after his decision to leave 10 key players back on Merseyside.
Slot was, of course, right to interject that, even with Mabaya making a shaky debut, Wataru Endo being required to move from No. 6 to centre-back early on and 17-year-old Trey Nyoni starting over Jones in a lean midfield, “this team should, should, should have been able to win that game.”
Any Liverpool side losing to Plymouth – bottom of the Championship and conceding 65 goals in 33 games prior to Sunday – is shameful and hindsight cannot change that.
But with Slot and his players kicking off a crucial run of five Premier League fixtures in 15 days on Wednesday night with a trip to Everton for the final Merseyside derby at Goodison Park, the merits of doing so are clear.
Everton away, Wolves at home, Aston Villa away, Manchester City away, Newcastle at home. It is a formidable run including a never-straightforward derby and clashes with the league’s eighth, fifth and sixth-placed sides respectively.
On paper, only the visit of Wolves – a side sitting 17th with the second-most defeats in the league – could be deemed a likely victory for Liverpool. Even given their near-impeccable form, there are roadblocks ahead.
However, having left almost all of his regular starters out of the squad at Plymouth, Slot embraced a necessary evil to prepare for what’s to come.
Alisson, Conor Bradley, Ibrahima Konate, Virgil van Dijk, Andy Robertson, Ryan Gravenberch, Dominik Szoboszlai, Alexis Mac Allister, Mohamed Salah and Cody Gakpo were all given that matchday off and, all being well, the majority will start all five of these upcoming fixtures.
As was the case with the Champions League dead-rubber at PSV Eindhoven, Slot and his performance staff will have weighed up the landscape of the season and concluded it worthwhile to defy narrative and opt for common sense.
While commentators and pundits worked to the contrived rhetoric of giant-killings and famous victories for PSV and Plymouth, in reality these were results this new Liverpool will have been ready to absorb.
Slot will only have had to look to his predecessor’s final campaign, which also earned ‘quadruple-chasing’ headlines but ultimately fell short, to understand that going the distance in every competition can have major ramifications on eventual success.
Liverpool ended Jürgen Klopp’s farewell with only the Carabao Cup to show for it, finishing third in the Premier League, knocked out of the Europa League quarter-finals and – crucially – also the last eight of the FA Cup.
“Last season, at the end, we destroyed everything after one bad result against Manchester United,” Kostas Tsimikas said in October, reflecting on a costly 4-3 defeat in the FA Cup quarter-finals – a game Liverpool were leading 2-1 until the 87th minute.
“In the next fixtures we were not the team we were before.”
Klopp himself described the Reds’ undoing at Old Trafford – decided by an Amad Diallo winner at the very end of extra time – as a “catastrophe” and hinted that Liverpool’s mentality had been affected as “we were that good and lost it anyway.”
That loss was in mid-March and Liverpool went on to drop points in five of their remaining 10 league games – including a 2-0 defeat away to Everton – as well as a 3-0 loss at home to Atalanta which facilitated their Europa League exit.
The popular belief is that, by that point, Klopp’s side were almost a spent force physically and that mental blow only added to the pressure of delivering in a uniquely important season, leading to a disappointing limp over the line come May.
Liverpool, who are a different beast following the appointment of Slot, have seen their load lightened by removing the season’s fourth competition from their schedule – particularly as, with Manchester City awaiting Plymouth in the next round, that hypothetical tie would have not allowed for further rotation.
For Slot the only downside appears to be a lack of rhythm for those senior players who let him down in Devon – the likes of Harvey Elliott, Federico Chiesa and Diogo Jota – as they will still be needed in the months to come.
“The fact that we didn’t [win], and we didn’t against PSV as well, also tells us that these players definitely need these games to get the best out of them,” he explained.
“Because it’s so difficult to get the best out of them if they hardly play any games.”
But with key names rested in perhaps the only remaining opportunity to do so, if Liverpool can pull off five wins from five over the next 15 days sacrificing the FA Cup will have been worthwhile.
Pick up 15 points from a possible 15 and Liverpool would be at least 12 points clear of closest challengers Arsenal by the end of February – albeit having played a game more due to the trip to Villa being moved forward – with the final stretch in sight.
There are many variables in play and football is never won on paper, but the calculated minds of Slot and his backroom staff understood that Sunday’s approach was their best chance of ensuring that is possible.
Nothing good comes from losing a football game? We’ll see about that, Arne.
(Cover image from IMAGO)
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