Liverpool boss Slot told Pymouth loss could be ‘beginning of the end’ for his side

Presenter Kelly Cates reckons their loss to Plymouth in the FA Cup could be the “beginning of the end” for Arne Slot’s Liverpool side.

The Reds are having a brilliant season on the whole with Slot guiding them to the top of the Premier League table by six points after 23 matches.

Liverpool also finished top of the Champions League group stage with 21 points from a possible 24 and Slot could hardly have wished for a better start to his tenure at Anfield.

Slot left Feyenoord in the summer to take over from legendary boss Jurgen Klopp, who left Anfield to take a break from daily football management.

Liverpool have only lost once all season in the Premier League and their 1-0 defeat to Plymouth Argyle at Home Park on Sunday marked their first huge downer of the season.

The Championship strugglers knocked the Premier League leaders out of the FA Cup at the fourth round stage and Cates reckons the defeat could mark a negative “turning point” in the Liverpool’s season.

Cates said on The Sports Agents podcast: “There were goals in that team. It just was a really low-key performance. I think it’s either going to be a blip in a fantastic season, or the beginning of the end, and this will be marked as the turning point of the of the whole season!”

On Plymouth’s performance, she added: “They deserved it. What more can you ask for? But I mean, to lose what was it? 14, 15 games in a row and then beat the team who are top of the Premier League, you think, ‘Well, it might kickstart their season.’ Who knows?”

On the team Liverpool put out against Plymouth, Cates continued: “There’s been talk about the starting 11. As you said, 10 changes, and obviously there was going to be one in in in terms of the goalkeeper; there was an early injury to Joe Gomez as well.

“But I think even with all of that, that was still an 11 that should have been able to beat a team like Plymouth, at wrong end of the championship, who’ve been on that terrible run of form. So they should have been good enough.”

Liverpool travel to Everton in the Merseyside Derby on Wednesday with a loss or draw there potentially the start of “a “wobble”, according to Cates.

Cates said: “It’s going to be so dramatic as we head into the head into the Merseyside derby. The fact that Everton are on this great run of form in the league, the fact that David Moyes is back for one last chance at it, and the fact Everton won against Liverpool at Goodison Park last season as well, all the despite the fact that the record hasn’t been good… it’s going to be fascinating.

“If they lose or even draw in the derby, suddenly it’s like, ‘Oh, that’s come off the back of the Plymouth game.’ And it just starts to feel like a like a bit of a wobble.”

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Richard Keys insisted that it was never a possibility for Liverpool to win an unprecedented Quadruple and their defeat against Plymouth shows why it has never been done.

Keys wrote on his blog: “Well played Plymouth. It’s not a Cup weekend unless we get a surprise or two. Argyle went one better. Their result is in the ‘shock’ file and they deserve all the credit in the world for pulling it off.

“Having said that – and I don’t want to piss on their chips, but they didn’t really beat Liverpool did they? They beat ‘a’ Liverpool team. Ok – a good side that should have won, but modern Cup shocks aren’t the same as they used to be.

“Wherever you looked at the weekend most of the top teams were making significant team changes. I don’t have a problem with that. They’ve got to because of the demands on players now, but things ain’t what they used to be in the FA Cup.

“And I don’t have a problem with that either. I like finishing games at the first attempt. I’ve always enjoyed the jeopardy of penalties. It’s great tv, although I appreciate it’s a tough way to end a game if you lose the shoot-out.

“We should also thank Plymouth for ending the 48 hour debate about Liverpool completing a treble. It wasn’t going to happen. It’ll never happen. It’s impossible to achieve – which is why it’s never been done.

“I tweeted Thursday morning posing the question ‘when should we expect the quad debate to start?’ because I hadn’t seen any discussion about it. I shouldn’t have bothered. The very next paper I read there it was – ‘Slot’s got the hand of quad’ read The Mirror’s headline. No chance. And definitely not now. 😂.”