Miron Muslic thought the outstanding defensive display of Nikola Katic in Plymouth Argyle's shock 1-0 Emirates FA Cup win against Liverpool showed exactly why he brought him to the club.

The recent loan signing from Swiss Super League side FC Zurich made just his second appearance for the Pilgrims in the fourth round tie, and lost a tooth in the early stages of the game after a collision with captain Adam Randell. Katic was also left bloodied by the incident but the 28-year-old was soon back in the thick of the action in the centre of Argyle's defensive trio, with Maksym Talovierov and Julio Pleguezuelo also standing strong alongside him.

Even when Pleguezuelo had to leave the pitch in the second half due to an injury, Victor Palsson came off the bench and played his part in what was a superbly structured and organised defensive effort across the whole team.

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Liverpool applied lots of late pressure as they chased an equaliser to cancel out Ryan Hardie's 54th minute penalty but the Pilgrims kept them at bay to clinch one of the most famous wins in the club history. Katic was at the heart of it all as he headed the ball clear and blocked shots and crosses, especially in the nine extra minutes added on by referee Sam Barrott at the end of the tie.

Muslic said about the Bosnia and Herzegovina international: "He lost his tooth. On our team picture after the game I hope this guy is not smiling otherwise we have a problem!"

On a more serious note, the Pilgrims' boss added: "I think most of the clearances in the end, Katic was involved. That shows this was an important signing for us in the winter transfer window."

Muslic never had any doubts that losing a tooth in such a painful way would have any detrimental effect on Katic's performance against the Premier League leaders. He said: "That's not the personality of Nikola. He's going fully and he's going until the end. That's exactly the mindset and the spirit we need to get out of our challenging situation (in the Championship).

"He's solid and this is maybe the biggest compliment you can give to a centre-back because what you need in this position is reliability. If you are solid, you are clean, and I think today we had a very good, clean defensive structure, not giving a lot to Liverpool and I'm very satisfied."

Another stand-out feature of Argyle's historic victory over the eight-times FA Cup winners was Muslic's decision to play Mustapha Bundu as trhe main striker with Ryan Hardie brought back into the starting line-up in one of the two 'number 10' roles alongside lifelong Liverpool fan Callum Wright.

Muslic said: "We adapted something tactically, finding new positions for Mussa and finding also new positions for Ryan because we knew exactly today the moments we are going to have and create will be after transition, or in transition, and we need the pace of Hardie.

"Hardie is not a target player. Mussa has the pace of a winger but the physicality of a target player so I just adapted his position. I think they had some very nice connections and moments together, with Cal.

"I think our line up offensively did it fantastic defensively because they kept the first wave alive of Liverpool with Mussa, Cal and Ryan. You always have some ideas before the game how you can adapt, how you can change and then you never know if this can work out, but I saw already in training this connection could fit."

Hardie has been a very reliable penalty taker for Argyle over the years, but he did have one saved in another FA Cup fourth round tie in February 2022, in the closing stages of a 2-1 defeat against extra-time against then European champions Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.

The striker had successfully converted a spot kick in the Pilgrims' previous game, though, the 2-1 Championship victory over West Bromwich Albion at Home Park.

Argyle were awarded their penalty against Liverpool when Darko Gyabi hooked the ball over his head towards the goal and it hit the raised arms of Harvey Elliott.

Muslic said: "For me that was clear Hardie will take this one. I think he's a very experienced player and a long time already here, so I don't recall his missed penalty against Chelsea but I will remember this one forever."

Liverpool boss Arne Slot made 10 changes to his team from the 4-0 Carabao Cup semi-final second leg success against Tottenham Hotspur at Anfield last Thursday, clearly with the Merseyside derby away to Everton in the Premier League on Wednesday night in mind.

It was only in closing stages of the tie against Argyle that Liverpool really threatened to score, but Argyle goalkeeper Conor Hazard came up with a couple of terrific saves from Diogo Jota and Darwin Nunez.

Muslic said: "These are the big moments, they just fitted today to the FA Cup and also to the opponent, to Liverpool, and you need those kind of moments because it's just simply impossible to protect and defend everything.

"I watched a couple of nights ago the game versus Tottenham and I saw the wave of Liverpool, unstoppable. So it was a big, big task for us defensively and we did it well in a lot of situations.

"You will always have this one, two, three opportunities where they can create something because they have individual quality and you need big moments to defend, like Maksym and Katic did with their clearances, Julio and Victor, and in the end Conor as the GK to save us from this possible extra-time."

Even before Liverpool's much changed starting line-up was confirmed, Muslic had preached the power of positivity to his players ahead of the fourth round tie.

He declared: "We had a belief before because we wanted simply to enjoy this game, and to maximise this game. I said it to the lads 'There is nothing we should be afraid of, it's everything to enjoy'. We had nothing to lose but a lot to win and I think we played like this."

It was not long after the incredible scenes around Home Park following the final whistle that Muslic's thoughts turned to the important Championship home match against Millwall on Wednesday night.

He said: "Hopefully I will have the time to enjoy this. As a coach, I'm already on the next game, I'm already on Millwall, I'm already on the session tomorrow, the set pieces on Tuesday. And that's okay but I have to find a spot where I can just enjoy this magical day.

"I think we added another part in the history of Argyle and nobody can take this away from us. We have to be ready from tomorrow on to go fully to prepare ourselves because Millwall is in the end bigger than Liverpool, but let us enjoy today."

As for the fans, who could hardly have believed what they saw from their side in beating Liverpool, Muslic said: "They should enjoy, they should celebrate. They deserve it. It's a day for Argyle, it's a day for Plymouth, it's a day for the Green Army.

"I will go home, I'm going to re-watch the game. I'm going to eat some nachos and drink a Fanta. It's very boring for me, but they should enjoy."

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