Arne Slot insisted that he does not regret selecting a weakened team for the journey from Liverpool to Plymouth, because his focus is on Wednesday's Merseyside Derby in the Premier League.
A long list of heavyweights was left in the northwest without Van Virgil van Dijk, Mohamed Salah, Alisson, Ibrahima Konate, Alexis Mac Allister, Ryan Gravenberch, Dominik Szoboszlai, Cody Gakpo, Andy Robertson Making the Journey.
But Slot stated that he still believed that the mass changes were the right call and, when asked if he regretted his decision, said: “No, because you never know what would happen if we were playing with our starters here.
'I think we have already seen a few times during the season, that is a game plan or a style that is difficult for our starters, but also for the players who started today. So constantly long balls, second balls. It is difficult for every team.
'Today I think we used these players – because these players also need game rhythm in the coming months, they need playing time and you have seen today, some of these players must be so to be ready for the last pair months of the season. '
Slot added: 'The result is clear, it was a big disappointment and the way we played, there was not much to be happy either. I was happy that the boys kept fighting for 100 minutes and probably the best part of our game was the last 10 minutes.
'So that shows that they kept fighting but the honor of Plymouth – they have a good game plan, worked incredibly hard and got a penalty that was a reward and it was earned because it was a clear punishment, correct decision.
'But that had a lot of impact on the game because both teams hardly had a chance and then suddenly a penalty. Which was again the right decision. They kept fighting until the end and the keeper made good saves … but we hardly made anything. '
In the meantime, Liverpool got an injury when Joe Gomez, captain on the day, pulled after just 10 minutes. He had missed a hamstring injury for six weeks and will have scans in the next 24 hours to assess the size of his problem.
Curtis Jones was part of the traveling party to Plymouth, but felt some discomfort after a training session, so it was omitted from the starting XI as a precaution. The midfielder was mentioned as a replacement, but never got off his chair to warm up.
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