Liverpool midfielder Harvey Elliott did not have his best game earlier today, giving away a penalty and performing below-par at Plymouth Argyle. But he wasn't the only player selected by Arne Slot who struggled.

Italian winger Federico Chiesa was handed a rare chance that he couldn't take and Portugal striker Diogo Jota barely had a kick. Luis Diaz was relatively quiet, outnumbered down the left flank, and Curtis Jones, named on the bench, was injured and therefore couldn't come on to help.

"It wasn’t our best game at all, we all knew that on the pitch," Elliott told the Reds' official website. "But I think one thing about the team today, we fought to the end, we kept trying, we kept pushing.

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"But sometimes this is what happens in football — today we weren’t good enough. I’d say it was harsh to lose the way we did but games like this, where we don’t play as well as we should do, can go either way and today it didn’t go our way.

"In these games — and any game really, especially when you’re a goal down away from home — you tend to rush things a little bit. Things come in a rush and I think we just lacked that composure at the end.

"But at the same time their ’keeper made some unbelievable saves, one from [Diogo] Jota in particular, and credit where credit is due. They were great today and made it really, really hard for us and we couldn’t cope with that.

"But as I said, it’s a learning curve. It’s a different game for us because we’re not used to playing these kind of games and there are things we can learn and for myself and the younger lads, we can keep taking it in our career."

Ryan Hardie scored from the penalty spot when Elliott handled the ball in the box. Slot had no complaints and it was a stonewall spot kick, though Elliott protested it at the time — and even after the final whistle.

"I mean, the arguments could go on forever, to be honest," he continued. "I was so close to him and I said to the referee, ‘Do you expect me to jump with my arms by my side?'.

"That’s just not a natural way of jumping. I was trying my hardest to block the ball, and my arm was up there, but it was about a meter away from the player shooting."

Liverpool.com says: Elliott should have no complaints about the penalty. Liverpool didn't turn up on the day and Plymouth deserved the victory, but it will soon be forgotten with a win over Everton on Wednesday.