The morning after the night before and Liverpool will have still been hurting after their shock FA Cup exit at the hands of Championship strugglers Plymouth Argyle. The footballing world revelling in their misery, lauding the Pilgrims’ win as one of the greatest ever modern cup upsets will have done little to appease deflated moods.

But now over 24 hours on from the final whistle at Home Park and the dust has settled. While Arne Slot’s men might still be stung by their latest defeat, they clearly have bigger fish to fry with attention already turned to Wednesday’s Merseyside derby.

Besides, scratch beneath the surface, was the loss to Plymouth really that surprising?

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Make no mistake, should Liverpool be beating a side placed 43 places below them in the English football ladder? Absolutely. Was their starting XI strong enough on paper to beat Championship strugglers? Undoubtedly.

But is it actually that much of a shock when a shadow side filled with a mismatch of fringe players and academy starlets performs as exactly that? Certainly not.

Liverpool were the losers on the day as their FA Cup adventure came to a premature end. But the biggest losers at Home Park were the fringe players themselves. And yet plenty of football remains for them to write their names into Liverpool folklore.

Slot defended his selection after the final whistle, insisting his lesser-used players needed the opportunity to obtain rhythm.

“I think today also showed why we played with the ones we played with today because these players need game rhythm as well,” he said. “For them to be ready in the upcoming months, they need game time, and you saw today that some of these players really need games like this to be ready for the last three months of the season.”

The irony for Liverpool is that that very lack of rhythm is ultimately what cost them dear at Home Park in a rare below-par performance. And by being knocked out of the FA Cup, Slot may now be denied the opportunity to hand his fringe players any further significant game-time.

Including the injured Trent Alexander-Arnold, the Reds left 11 senior players at home when they travelled to Plymouth. Slot made a similar decision for last month’s Champions League dead-rubber against PSV Eindhoven.

But with FA Cup elimination ensuring they will navigate two free weekends in March, Liverpool’s now well-rested senior stars can expect similar breaks between matches next month ahead of the season’s run-in.

Consequently, Slot will face no real need for such wholesale rotation in the weeks and months ahead.

Eight months into his Anfield reign and he now has a first-choice line-up, with really only two or three positions in it that are not as secure as others.

Often initially choosing from the same pool of 14-15 players, the identity of those left at home said it all - and went beyond just hinting at Slot’s potential selection against Everton on Wednesday.

Had any of Slot’s side hoped to use the trip to Plymouth as a way of forcing their way into his starting XI for Wednesday’s Merseyside derby, they will be left somewhat disappointed.

The likes of Harvey Elliott and Federico Chiesa have been starved of starting opportunities this season, and that is now not about to change. Instead they have to embrace their roles as impact substitutes, and hope to make a lot more of their next moments on the pitch as we near the business end of the season.

If they require inspiration, they do not need to look far into the Reds’ past. Divock Origi is a Liverpool cult hero for a reason despite his eternal bit-part role.

Such players will all still have a part to play in the final months of the season, of course. As much as Slot’s team selection was with one eye on the trip to Goodison Park, it was also in consideration of his entire squad as Liverpool go chasing multiple honours in May.

The Reds will hope that their campaign has another 23 matches to run. There will be injuries, and if a door to the starting XI opens, these fringe players have to run through it.

Slot is well aware that not all of his players will be content with their current roles, and recently alluded to such when looking ahead to the summer transfer window.

"It would be a bit weird if I said I was so happy with this team in the summer window and this winter window that now in the next window we bring 15 new players in," Slot joked. "That would be [weird]. But like I said you always have to be prepared for all the new things coming up.

"Will the players that don't play a big part at the moment, will they be able to do this another year? Will they fight for their place or will they [want to] go somewhere else? So we have to be prepared for the next window and what we can do.”

With the January transfer window now closed, Liverpool’s fringe players are committed for the season as the Reds go in pursuit of Premier League, Champions League and League Cup glory. Beyond that is a discussion still to be had.

FA Cup elimination has made the way into the Liverpool starting XI even harder for such players, and maybe even pushed some that little bit closer to the exit door.

But in the meantime when back watching from the bench, the Reds' fringe stars also know that now is the time of season when heroes are made. They might not be selected to start the biggest games that still await for Liverpool, but there is nothing stopping them from winning them. They still have a chance to flip the script.

If they remain unable to force their way into Slot's starting XI between now and the end of the season, they can at least do their all to ensure, if they are to depart, their Anfield careers end on a high.