Liverpool legend John Aldridge believes Arne Slot made a "mistake" by not taking more senior players with him to Plymouth for the weekend's FA Cup tie. The likes of Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk were left at home at the Reds exited the competition.

"I can see where Slot is coming from in picking the side that he did, but in my opinion, it was a mistake," Aldridge wrote in his ECHO column. "Look, we all make mistakes, but I think he should have had the cavalry on the bench just to come on for 15-20 minutes at the end if needed to try and change it.

"But it is what it is. We’ve got to take it on the chin. We didn’t deserve anything and Plymouth fully deserved everything that they got. It’s not Arne’s fault. When the team goes over the white line, that’s it. They let him down."

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Liverpool plays Everton in the Premier League tomorrow and has a midweek trip to Aston Villa to come in a week's time. With so many more important fixtures to come, the FA Cup provided a chance to give some big stars a much-needed rest and also to put minutes in the legs of those who haven't played as much.

"I will reiterate, I am a dinosaur," Aldridge continued. "I love the FA Cup. Loved playing in it, loved winning it. Growing up, it was the most important cup competition around. But times change and that’s not the case anymore.

"At least we’re going to Wembley once this season. It would have been nice to go twice or even three times. With Arsenal and Chelsea already getting knocked out of the FA Cup, it’s really only Man City that probably could have stopped us. No other team could have stopped us from getting to Wembley again so getting knocked out like we did is a massive missed opportunity.

"It’s the most disappointing thing for me. All the other teams left in the cup, we’re perfectly capable of beating all of them on any given day. That hurts more than anything. The door was open for another good run."

Liverpool.com says: The Reds would have had a great chance of going all the way in the FA Cup but going out will free up the schedule and it was the fourth priority this season. The main disappointment will be for the players on the fringes like Harvey Elliott and Federico Chiesa whose next start could now be some way away.