Arne Slot’s Liverpool were consigned to the biggest shock of the 2024/25 FA Cup, exiting in the fourth round to a 1-0 loss to Championship strugglers Plymouth Argyle, and fans believe that three players have now ‘finished’ their Anfield careers.
Ryan Hardie opened and closed the scoring in the 53rd minute after referee Samuel Barrott pointed to the spot after the ball struck the arm of Harvey Elliott and Slot’s men were unable to match the home side’s intensity from minute one to 90.
Without the talismanic Mohamed Salah, the ever-reliable Virgil van Dijk and the combative Ryan Gravenberch, Slot’s men were not signing from the same hymn sheet – and the second tier side, led by Miron Muslic, took advantage of their weakened side.
Youngsters Trey Nyoni and James McConnell were both handed starts by the Dutchman, who was looking to get one step closer to Wembley, but the heavily-rotated side did not pay dividends and Liverpool’s forwards have been subject to most of the post-match flak.
Preparing for their congested fixture schedule ahead, Slot started with Harvey Elliott, Diogo Jota and Luis Diaz at the heart of the action – but none of the aforementioned trio impressed at Home Park, leading to some fans feeling irked on X (formerly Twitter).
Think we are seeing exactly why the senior pros in this side aren’t knocking hard at the door of the starting 11. Chiesa, Elliott, Jota all really poor. Diaz not much better but at least taking on his man.” one fan said in utter dismay.
A second supporter wrote, “The drop off to our 1st team to our 2nd team is crazy given the fact we’re playing a couple of our under 21’s. We should not be struggling, especially when we have Elliott, Diaz, Chiesa and Jota starting and Nunez.”
5 league games in 15 days starting on Wednesday. Don’t wanna see anyone slating the manager for picking this squad when he’s got us into the position we’re in. Diaz, Jota, Chiesa & Elliot have been mud.
Another wrote, “This is actually embarrassing what happened to Diaz and Jota.” while one fan called them – and two others – abysmal. “Chiesa, Diaz, Elliott and Jota should not be in the proper team again for a while. Abysmal, all of them.”
Albeit initially excited to watch their side in action, another fan outed Chiesa, Jota and Diaz – regarded as one of the best wingers in the Premier League – for their poor displays on away soil. “Chiesa, Jota, Diaz has been a painful front 3 watch. Was excited to watch too.” they wrote.
