FA Cup fourth round.Liverpool travelled to the home of Plymouth Argyle and were expected to win comfortably against a team at the bottom of the Championship, but the away team, which was mainly made up of reserves and young players, played tetchy.
Combined with the home team’s good performance, they lost 1-0 and were gone from the FA Cup early.
In particular, the lack of coordination in midfield and up front was noted. Former Liverpool defender Steve Nicol said he was disappointed with the play of Italian international Federico Chiesa and said he would consider him out of the squad if he were manager Slot.
“You know the biggest disappointment today? Chiesa,”
“I mean I know when they signed him it was a bit of a gamble because he’d been out injured for so long.”
“But the pedigree the guy’s got, you would expect at least something from him today.”
“Maybe not scoring goals and all of that, but showing yourself on the field and helping the younger guys, showing your experience.”
“The guy’s got a European winner’s medal! But he’s been an absolute bust today. If you’re Slot you’ll be lying in bed thinking ‘I hope I don’t need him.’”
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Even though they had no space with their back five, they lost the ball a lot, cobbled together poorly with the right-back and midfield, and were not a threat. It was a bit of a disappointing result for the supporters, as they had the impression that the team had been improving of late.
It was by no means the Italian forward’s fault alone, as his overall play was slow and arguably the worst of the season.
Will the 27-year-old winger be able to avoid injury, get into top form and put in the kind of performances in the future that will make the club’s alumni look back…?