We have our FA Cup upset. And what an upset. What a result for the ages. What a brilliant endorsement of this competition, its history and what it means. What a performance from Plymouth Argyle, bottom of the Championship, against a previously imperious Liverpool, who simply could not cope and could have no complaints. Quadruple no more. Not this season. Yes, Arne Slot made 10 changes, retaining only goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher. Yes, he left big guns such as Mohamed Salah, Cody Gakpo and Virgil van Dijk at home. Yes, he lost stand-in captain Joe Gomez early on to yet another injury and, yes, the Liverpool head coach is prioritising other competitions.
The games are coming thick and fast and intensely. This tie was sandwiched between overturning the Carabao Cup semi-final deficit to Tottenham Hotspur last Thursday and facing Everton away in the last ever Merseyside derby at Goodison Park in the Premier League on Wednesday. Slot will argue something had to give and later revealed that, while Curtis Jones was on the bench, the midfielder had not recovered and could not come on.
But try telling that to the Green Army. “Que sera, sera, we’re going to Wembley,” they sang soon after Ryan Hardie confidently thumped home his penalty, rightly awarded for a handball against Harvey Elliott, and gave them an early second-half lead that they tenaciously protected. 🟢 PENALTY TO PLYMOUTH! 🟢. Ryan Hardie makes no mistake from the spot! 🎯#FACup | @Argyle pic.twitter.com/a904SgfUvZ.
How they drank in the occasion. How they supported their players. If Plymouth play like this there is absolutely no way they will go down. It's a party in side Home Park 🕺🔊 #EmiratesFACup | @Argyle pic.twitter.com/sCiJvB49Y2. They put their bodies on the line. Their defenders were immense – especially Maksym Talovierov, the recently signed Ukrainian international signing, and Nikola Katic. They fought tooth and nail and, in the case of Katic, actually lost a tooth after he came off worst in a collision with team-mate Adam Randell, while there was a fantastic block by Matthew Sorinola to deny Luis Díaz.
A tooth down but a POTM trophy up! 🏆🦷. What a shift from Nikola Katic 👏#FACup | @Argyle pic.twitter.com/vUTIJBZcro. Usually, in such upsets, there are some glaring misses or outstanding saves and huge slices of luck, but while Plymouth defended wonderfully there were none until two outstanding saves by goalkeeper Conor Hazard deep into injury time. Liverpool created little of note until the 89th minute – when James McConnell shot wide from the edge of the penalty area with Hazard stranded.
Then there were nine additional minutes – where did that come from in a game with few delays and no VAR? – when Hazard excelled himself. Firstly, he pushed away a Diogo Jota snapshot and then, somehow, tipped over a point-blank header from substitute Darwin Núñez. ANOTHER terrific stop from Hazard! 🧤#FACup | @argyle pic.twitter.com/teV69p0kHe. At the end there were tears. Tears of joy and almost disbelief, especially after the Núñez save with the players jubilant. It was overwhelming for some with Hardie scooping his young son, who had been a mascot, up into his arms as he walked around the pitch with his team-mates. The stuff of dreams and not least because they undoubtedly deserved it.
Hardie Jnr had taken the mic before kick-off and predicted a 10-0 win for his dad. “I think he said Argyle would win by 10,” Hardie later said. “I am going to say one and zero makes 10.”. There was also a little slice of redemption for the 27-year-old Scot who had missed an extra-time, spot-kick three years ago when Plymouth went out 2-1 to Chelsea in another showpiece FA Cup tie. “I thought back to the Chelsea game,” Hardie admitted. “But [this time] I got it and I smashed it.” He did just that and, soon after, was denied a second as Kelleher made a superb near-post save as he turned away a low shot with Liverpool reeling.
IT'S ALMOST TWO! 🫨. Ryan Hardie's effort rebounds off the post...#FACup | @Argyle pic.twitter.com/ote6upNr2c. This was the worst Liverpool have played in their 30 matches under Slot, who cut an increasingly agitated figure on the touchline; goaded by those Plymouth fans who lapped up his agitation. It was only their fourth defeat of the season in all competitions and, after the Premier League loss at home to Nottingham Forest last September, the only one that mattered.
They will probably go on to win the league, they are one of the favourites in the Champions League and are in the Carabao Cup final but, for Plymouth, it makes this giant-killing, after the last-round giant-killing of another Premier League club, Brentford away, all the more memorable as they claimed a place in the last 16. For Liverpool there were youngsters – such as McConnell and Trey Nyoni and Isaac Mabaya who came on for his debut and was later substituted – but plenty of experienced first teamers. It was a bad day in particular for Jota, Díaz and Federico Chiesa, who did not step up. In what was only his third start, Chiesa was almost anonymous and just cannot get his Liverpool career going.
