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LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — Liverpool suffered a shocking FA Cup exit on Sunday as Championship strugglers Plymouth ended their quadruple bid with a shocking 1-0 win, whereas Aston Villa inflicted one other damaging 2-1 defeat on Tottenham boss Ange Postecoglou.
Arne Slot’s determination to area a weakened Liverpool group got here again to hang-out him, with Ryan Hardie’s second-half penalty sealing Plymouth’s epic upset at House Park.
Virgil van Dijk, Mohamed Salah, Andrew Robertson and Cody Gakpo had been among the many stars rested as Slot made 10 adjustments from the group that thrashed Tottenham 4-0 within the League Cup semi-final second leg on Thursday.
In a remarkably profitable first season accountable for the Reds, it was a uncommon blunder by the previous Feyenoord boss.
It was solely the fourth time {that a} group prime of the Premier League had been eradicated from the FA Cup by a decrease division membership.
“We weren’t having an excellent day. A end result like that is the end result,” Slot mentioned.
“I am unable to say the boys did not combat, each groups barely created an opportunity after which it was a penalty. In a sport like this, it’s as much as one second. That second was for them they usually deserve it.”
Masterminding a well-known victory over Liverpool whereas preventing to haul Plymouth off the underside of the Championship was no hardship for Argyle supervisor Miron Muslic, who was a refugee from war-torn Bosnia as a baby.
Muslic — employed by Plymouth to switch the sacked Wayne Rooney in January — was compelled to maneuver to Austria aged 9 after escaping his house city of Bihac after it fell beneath siege by Serbian forces in 1992.
Plymouth had already overwhelmed Premier League facet Brentford within the third spherical, however their victory towards West Brom final weekend was their first within the league since November.
“I am speechless, and usually they inform me I am eloquent! It is a massive day for us,” mentioned Muslic. “It is a magical day. I advised the lads within the locker room to take pleasure in it.”
Within the circumstances, Plymouth’s very good efficiency will rank as one of many FA Cup’s best giant-killings.
Slot wore an exasperated expression that summed up Liverpool’s lethargy even earlier than Darko Gyabi’s overhead kick was blocked by Harvey Elliott’s raised arm within the 54th minute.
It was a transparent penalty and Hardie saved his composure to ship Caoimhin Kelleher the improper means from the spot.
Diogo Jota and Darwin Nunez had been denied by high quality saves from Conor Hazard in stoppage-time as House Park erupted in celebration of an astonishing end result.
Recent from their thrashing at Anfield to exit the League Cup on Thursday, one other probability at ending Spurs’ lengthy anticipate silverware went awry for the under-fire Postecoglou.
The writing was on the wall for the guests after only one minute when goalkeeper Antonin Kinsky let Jacob Ramsey’s shot by way of his grasp.
Son Heung-min missed an enormous probability to stage for an injury-ravaged Tottenham when he was denied by Emiliano Martinez earlier than half-time.
Morgan Rogers sealed Spurs’ destiny when he blasted in from shut vary 25 minutes from time.
Villa might then afford the posh of introducing Marcus Rashford for his first look since finishing a mortgage transfer from Manchester United.
Nevertheless it was one other January signing who made a formidable influence off the bench as Mathys Tel produced a deft end for his first Tottenham purpose in stoppage time.
The comfort was too little, too late for Spurs on the night time and probably for Postecoglou to carry onto his job.
With out a trophy since 2008, Tottenham sit 14th within the Premier League and now have solely Europa League glory to play for this season.
“Nothing actually adjustments,” mentioned Postecoglou on his future.
“There will be a possibility to get better now and get some gamers again over the following couple of weeks. We sit up for resetting and ending the season robust.”
Wolves cruised into the fifth spherical as two objectives within the area of 39 seconds from Joao Gomes and Matheus Cunha sealed a 2-0 win at second-tier Blackburn.
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