In a week where Liverpool booked their place in a Wembley final, few expected we would then be dumped out of the FA Cup and Robbie Fowler was critical of the performance.
Asked about Arne Slot’s side’s response to going a goal down, the Scouser said: “Not great if I’m being honest.
“I think the response, probably the last five minutes of the 90 and then the nine minutes [added time], we seen the Liverpool that we probably wanted to see earlier in the game where the intensity was better, they were moving the ball a bit quicker and they were getting the ball into the box – that was missing for 85 minutes.
“You come into an atmosphere like this and it was intimidating, Liverpool players are used to playing in intimidating atmospheres, that’s not a problem for them but the intensity at which they moved the ball early in the game, up until 85 was very un-Liverpool.
“We gave them so much praise for the mid-week game and how good they were – it was the polar opposite tonight.”
It’s probably a fair conclusion from the 49-year-old who was part of the ITV punditry team at Home Park for the cup upset.
Robbie Fowler was critical of Liverpool’s intensity against Plymouth
It wasn’t until the latter stages of the game when the Reds went more direct that we started to create more chances, like the one that Darwin Nunez came close to converting, that we looked like scoring.
It should also be noted though that we only lost the game through a penalty and even if we never made many chances, it was probably a game that deserved to end 0-0.
However, a heavily rested squad and a lack of options on the bench meant that we would always struggle to turn around a deficit in the game.
Whether you agree with this decision to prioritise other competitions or not, Arne Slot would have been aware of what could happen should we concede.
If the more senior players like Federico Chiesa didn’t perform as well, as was asserted by Karen Carney, then it was always destined to be a tough day at the office.
Let’s hope that the Merseyside derby sees a return of the performance level we had against Tottenham and the players who helped us be top of the Premier League and in the Carabao Cup final.
You can watch Fowler’s comments on Liverpool via @itvfootball on X:
“The intensity was very UN-LIVERPOOL.”
Robbie Fowler gives his opinions on Liverpool’s defeat #FACup | #LFC | @Robbie9Fowler pic.twitter.com/BxlUjQDnHr
— ITV Football (@itvfootball) February 9, 2025
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