Liverpool boss Arne Slot made the surprise comparison between Manchester United and Championship strugglers Plymouth Argyle after the Pilgrims shock FA Cup triumph over the Anfield club. Ryan Hardie's second-half penalty gave the club that sits bottom of the second tier, a memorable 1-0 win over the Reds to reach the next round of the competition. It was one of the surprise results of the round, but a deserved one at that.
Plymouth defended for their lives and also caused Liverpool plenty of problems with their direct approach at Home Park. Something Slot felt was comparable to Ruben Amorim's newly implemented style at United. Speaking to reporters after the Plymouth Argyle defeat, Slot made comparisons between the Championship side and United when asked if he had any regrets over his team selection, having made nine changes and fielded a number of young stars.
He said: "No, because you never know what will happen if we would have played with our starters over here. I think we've seen during this season, we've seen a few times already, that it's a game plan, a playing style, which is difficult for our starters, but also for the ones that played today.
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"So, constantly long balls, second balls, long balls, second balls. It's difficult for every team. We had it with [Manchester] United at home for example as well.
"They had a similar playing style going to a very low block [then] kick every ball long, and then we played with our starters.
"I think today also showed why we played with the ones we played with today because these players need game rhythm as well.
"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."
United themselves made it through to the next round of the competition with a 2-1 win against Premier League strugglers Leicester City, leaving it late as Harry Maguire grabbed the winner.
Amorim's side will find out their opponents this evening, and with a number of big teams now out of the hat, they'll fancy their chances of going all the way.
