Arne Slot has insisted there are no positives to take from Liverpool’s early FA Cup exit as he admitted he intended to name an even stronger side against Plymouth Argyle. The Reds suffered a shock 1-0 loss to the Championship strugglers as they exited the competition at the fourth round stage.

Plymouth’s reward for eliminating Liverpool is a trip to reigning Premier League champions Man City. In contrast, Slot’s side will enjoy two free weekends in March when the FA Cup fifth round and quarter-finals take place.

A much-changed Reds were below-par against Plymouth, but Slot revealed only circumstances prevented Curtis Jones and Darwin Nunez from playing a more prominent role at Home Park.

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And while the reduced schedule could be seen as a positive for Liverpool when it comes to their Premier League and Champions League challenges, given the reduced workload, Slot insisted he would rather have the extra games so he could at least hand more opportunities to some of his fringe stars.

“There was a wise man that once said to me that nothing good comes from losing a football game and I completely agree,” he said. “So we would have definitely preferred to play six games in 18 days or seven in 21 or eight in 24 because that is the schedule we are in.

“Now with us losing this game, there is one moment where we have a normal week but that is definitely not what we wanted when we went to Plymouth.

“It was difficult because the plan was of course to play with Joe for 60 minutes or longer. The plan was to start Curtis but he came out Sunday saying that he didn’t feel well enough to play.

“So then all of a sudden we missed two important players. I think people know Darwin’s situation that he became a dad one or two days before the game and that happened in Spain, so he came in a bit later.

“So there were some circumstances that weren’t perfect. The idea was to play with a stronger team than we did, but still this team should have been able to win that game.

“And the fact that we didn’t and we didn’t against PSV as well also tells us that these players definitely need these games to get the best out of them.

“It is so difficult to get the best out of them if they hardly play any games. And that’s why, again, it’s disappointing that we don’t have these extra games for them in 18 days.”