Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk accused his team of giving up and apologised to fans following their FA Cup humiliation at Manchester City.
The Reds’ hopes of salvaging domestic silverware from a disappointing season were crushed in a 4-0 quarter-final defeat at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday.
After an evenly-matched opening half-hour, the visitors capitulated after Van Dijk fouled Nico O’Reilly and Erling Haaland scored the resulting penalty before Haaland went on to complete a hat-trick as City struck four times in a devastating 18-minute spell spanning the interval.
Liverpool midfielder Dominik Szoboszlai claimed his team-mates lacked the mentality to recover from the setback and boss Arne Slot agreed that their reaction to Haaland’s opener was not good enough.
Van Dijk said: “I can only apologise to the fans for what we have shown, especially the second half.
“Obviously you come out with the right intentions from the dressing room, to hopefully score for 2-1 as soon as possible to change the game.
“The opposite happens and to come back from 3-0 is obviously very difficult here – but also you shouldn’t give up and that’s maybe, at a certain point, what happened.
“We let our fans down, we let ourselves down, and the manager. The way we played in the second half, especially, must hurt for everyone. It definitely hurts me.”
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The Sunday Supplement panel discuss Liverpool’s exit from the FA Cup after a big 4-0 loss to Manchester City and what the future holds for Arne Slot if the Reds continue to struggle.
The dismal result intensified the pressure on Slot ahead of a daunting Champions League quarter-final trip to Paris Saint-Germain.
Van Dijk said: “It’s a together thing, isn’t it? Obviously he’s responsible as the manager but we are the ones on the pitch that have to do it.
“The matter of fact is now, PSG are waiting for us. I watched them Friday a little bit. It will be so tough again. So we have to be ready mentally as soon as possible.
“I’ve been lucky enough to play for Liverpool for so many years. The main thing we always had was togetherness. Now obviously we are in a little bit of a transition, we have to find it.
“It’s difficult to perform every two days if you don’t have it consistently.”
Liverpool’s struggles have also left their hopes of Champions League for next season in doubt.
They face a crucial Premier League match with Fulham between their two games against PSG.
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Arne Slot responds to tough questions after Liverpool’s 4-0 defeat to Manchester City in the FA Cup.
Van Dijk said: “We have a responsibility to ourselves and, especially, to the fans. If we want to make something out of this season, then we have to try and produce something special the next three games.
“I’m trying to think how we can turn this round. We’ve been going through this almost 75 per cent of the season.
“We fall back into games where we get beaten on intensity or beaten on how much you really want to go for it. It’s a difficult one to take and everyone has to look at themselves.”
Analysis: Slot’s worst defeat yet
Sky Sports’ Adam Bate:
On the face of it, Slot could take some comfort in the underlying statistics. The possession was shared. Both teams had 11 attempts on goal. Liverpool actually had 36 touches in the opposition penalty box to Manchester City’s 21. An even contest, then?
Not quite. And while that reveals something about City boasting the best out-and-out striker on the planet, it also indicates just what has undermined Liverpool’s season. For a supposedly top team, they are bad in both boxes. The details continue to cost them.
Van Dijk did not need to kick O’Reilly inside the box, gifting City the chance to take the lead. Salah missed a penalty that was placed on the same spot from which Haaland had scored earlier on, having also wasted the game’s first clear chance.
With Alisson Becker injured again, these are Slot’s match-winners. Florian Wirtz, their record signing has decorated too many of these big matches rather than dominate them. Liverpool have lost something at full-back, while the balance in midfield is off.
There were times when the forwards would push high while the defence would drop off, opening spaces that this Liverpool do not have the legs to cope with. The sight of Dominik Szoboszlai chasing shadows on his own has been a feature of the campaign.
For all Liverpool’s struggles, no team other than Manchester City has beaten them by more than the odd goal this season. This was somehow different and yet also coming. The sort of excuses that supporters have had to listen to all year will not cover it now.
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