Arne Slot makes angry Liverpool demand after 'unacceptable' Plymouth defeat | OneFootball

Arne Slot has warned his Liverpool side that they must raise their performance levels after the shock FA Cup elimination at the hands of Plymouth Argyle.

While the team that fell to a 1-0 defeat was far from Liverpool's strongest, Slot still named the likes of Harvey Elliott, Diogo Jota, Luis Diaz and Federico Chiesa in his starting lineup, with Darwin Nunez also coming off the bench in the second half.

It was hardly the boost to momentum needed ahead of Wednesday's historic Merseyside derby against Everton, and Slot warned his players that similar standards this time around will simply not be tolerated.

"To lose against Plymouth is unacceptable," he said. "We are disappointed with that result. Now we have to show a different side of us tomorrow. It was not only the result, the performance was far below Liverpool standards as well."

Slot went on to admit his disappointment towards losing the chance to rotate his squad in the FA Cup, admitting his fringe players clearly showed signs of needing the sort of minutes that can be offered in that competition.

"A wise man once said to me nothing good comes from losing a game," Slot continued. "We would definitely prefer to have played more. Now after losing this game, there is a moment where we have a normal week. But that is not what we wanted when we went to Plymouth.

"The plan was to play with Joe [Gomez] for 60 minutes, the plan was to start Curtis [Jones] but he didn't feel well enough to play. Darwin became a dad one or two days before the game, that happened in Spain and he came in one or two days earlier. We wanted to play with a stronger team. The fact we didn't win shows these players need these games. It makes it disappointing we don't have these extra games for them."