Liverpool’s shock defeat to Plymouth shows the challenge of a Treble pursuit

Nobody saw Plymouth Argyle’s FA Cup win over Liverpool coming. The latter, after all, are sitting top of the Premier League while the former are at the bottom of the Championship – having conceded more goals than any other team in England’s top four divisions. This should have been an almighty mismatch.

Instead, Plymouth pulled off one of the biggest upsets in recent times. What’s more, they rarely looked troubled as they saw out a 1-0 win. Conor Hazard had to make a couple of important saves in stoppage time, but Liverpool were a shadow of the team that has dominated English and European soccer this season.

Defeat at Home Park eliminated any chance Liverpool had of an historic Quadruple. Top of the Premier League, comfortably through to the last 16 of the Champions League as table-toppers, in the Carabao Cup final – the possibility of a clean sweep had become more viable for the Reds. Until they visited Plymouth.

This season still has the potential to be a special one for Liverpool. They are running away with the Premier League title in Arne Slot’s first season as manager and are widely seen as favourites to win the Champions League. There is still plenty for the Reds to play for between now and the end of the campaign.

The shock loss to Plymouth highlighted just how difficult it is for teams, even those at the very top of the game, to win multiple trophies in one season. There will always be matches where things don’t go your way. When the ball just won’t go into the back of the net or the referee makes a bad decision that costs you.

Liverpool’s loss in the FA Cup fourth round only further underlines Manchester City’s Treble achievement of two seasons ago, when they won the Premier League, Champions League and FA Cup in the 2022/23 season. Trebles don’t happen very often, especially in English soccer where the competition near the top is particularly fierce.

Of course, Manchester United pulled off their own Treble in 1999. However, Sir Alex Ferguson’s team famously had to muster up several stoppage time goals and comebacks to get over the line in three different competitions. Most iconic of these moments was Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s winner against Bayern Munich in the Champions League final. 

Modern soccer has only placed greater strain on teams. To win the Champions League this season, Liverpool will have to play two more games than Manchester City did just two years ago. Europe’s best teams will also have to play the expanded Club World Cup this summer when they would have been on vacation in past times.

Slot’s team selection for the FA Cup tie against Plymouth perhaps reflected the demands being made of sides like Liverpool. While Luis Diaz and Diogo Jota both started for the Reds, the rest of the Liverpool lineup was made up of second and even third string squad figures. There were several youngsters included.

The reality of the modern game is that competitions like the Premier League and Champions League outweigh cups like the FA Cup. The world’s oldest cup competition might still hold some prestige for those who remember just how important it used to be decades ago, but the soccer landscape has long since shifted.

Last season, Liverpool had four trophies in their sights for a large part of the campaign. However, the Anfield outfit lost steam and ended up only winning the Carabao Cup. This was somewhat disappointing considering this was Jurgen Klopp’s final season at the club. He could have signed off in even better fashion.

As it was, Klopp handed over a well-equipped squad for Slot. Indeed, Liverpool arguably have the deepest group of players anywhere in Europe with cover in every position on the pitch. And yet there was still scope for a team like Plymouth Argyle to shock them, and everyone else who watched the game, in the FA Cup. There’s a lesson in that. Winning trophies isn’t easy.