Liverpool's hopes of another quadruple chase were dashed on Sunday afternoon as Championship strugglers Plymouth Argyle knocked them out of the FA Cup.

Caoimhin Kelleher was the only survivor from Thursday's League Cup semi-final triumph over Tottenham Hotspur as head coach Arne Slot made ten changes to his side for the tie at Home Park.

Ryan Hardie gave the home side the lead just eight minutes into the second half, sending Kelleher the wrong way from the spot after Harvey Elliott was penalised for a handball.

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Liverpool, though, could not find a way back into the game without Mohamed Salah, Alexis Mac Allister, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Dominik Szoboszlai - who were all left on Merseyside over the weekend.

Sure enough, such wholesale changes from Slot have drawn criticism from some quarters, with some insisting the Dutchman should have fielded a stronger team for the tie.

Here, the ECHO assesses Slot's team selection.

Keifer MacDonald

Given Liverpool's FA Cup fourth-round tie was sandwiched in between a League Cup semi-final second leg against Tottenham Hotspur and the rescheduled Merseyside Derby at Goodison Park, it was no surprise that Slot used Sunday's jaunt to Devon to ring the changes.

After all, the FA Cup was of little importance to Slot after his side sealed the first Wembley trip of his reign with a 4-1 aggregate victory over Spurs on Thursday night, while the weeks and months ahead will see his side continue their pursuit of a 20th league title and a seventh Champions League.

It must be said, though, that the line-up Slot selected at Home Park was strong enough to make light work of the Championship's bottom side, though the bench was arguably lacking in enough quality to turn the tide in Liverpool's favour if ever it required.

But should Liverpool defeat Everton in the final Merseyside Derby at Goodison Park on Wednesday, then Sunday's events at Home Park will be quickly forgotten.

Richard Garnett

I've always conformed to the general view that the older you are, the more likely you are to care about the FA Cup, so it's probably no surprise that a man who used to put a Subbuteo FA Cup on top of his TV (before they went flatscreen) ahead of every game in the competition is more than a little annoyed at Liverpool's limp exit.

However, I don't really have a big issue with Arne Slot's team selection. Fighting for silverware on four fronts is a huge ask and there's a reason why no-one has ever won the quadruple. The Reds have a superb position in the Premier League to protect so it makes sense for Liverpool's Dutch manager to rotate his players against lesser opposition.

My real gripe is with the performance itself. Here was an opportunity for some of the fringe players to stake a claim for being in the regular starting XI but no one took the chance. It was a rotten outing that was well below the standard expected of a Liverpool team playing against a side that is rooted to the bottom of the Championship. Fair play to Plymouth, but fans won't want to see a performance like that again from the Reds.

The goods news is, with a Premier League title to try and secure, plus Champions League aspirations and a League Cup Final, we will probably never see that starting XI again. If that limits senior players' game time then they only have themselves to blame.

James Quinlan

There can’t really be any issue with the team selected at the end of the day. Credit where it is due to Plymouth Argyle, they were superbly resilient, but that Liverpool team should have been beating any team from the Championship in truth.

It was slightly disrespectful towards the FA Cup though to at least not name greater firepower on the bench. What harm would there have been in taking Mohamed Salah, Cody Gakpo or even both?

Whilst it would be nice to compete for all honours, that won’t be the case now. It reflects more on those that did play than the head coach, though, especially the attackers. I was very disappointed in Luis Diaz and Federico Chiesa.

Not to worry though, as is the nature of football, we move on. There is a Merseyside derby to be won, and also a Premier League title looking at the bigger picture. Time to prove this FA Cup sacrifice was worth it.

Mark Wakefield

No competition seems to divide opinion when it comes to team selections more than the FA Cup. Some believe that, with it being the oldest cup competition in world football, it would be treated with the respect it arguably deserves and have a team's strongest possible line-up regardless of round or opposition.

Others, on the other hand, will argue that it often does not match the same level of importance as other competitions, notably the Premier League and Champions League. For Liverpool, the FA Cup was far from the top of the priority list going into the trip to Plymouth - which was arguably evident with Arne Slot's team selection.

Debate will go on as to whether Slot was right to leave some of the regular first-team squad members at home rather than make the trip to Home Park. From my point of view, the most important thing right now is to get the three points against Everton on Wednesday in the Premier League, whatever it takes.

Liverpool have a very good chance of winning the league title this season, and have a run of five games across 15 days, each as important as the last. If resting a few players in an early-round FA Cup tie means the squad is fresh and ready for the hectic run that lies ahead, it's a price worth paying.

Three points in the Merseyside Derby on Wednesday will see those voices criticising the team selection quiet down significantly, that's for sure.