Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk has apologized to fans, accusing his team of giving up after their FA Cup humiliation against Manchester City.
The Reds’ hopes of reclaiming a domestic silver medal after a disappointing season were dashed with a 4-0 loss in the quarter-finals at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday.
After an even half-hour, Van Dijk fouled Nico O’Reilly and Erling Haaland converted a penalty, the visitors surrendered, before Haaland completed his hat-trick and City scored four goals in a devastating 18-minute first half.
Liverpool midfielder Dominik Szoboszlai claimed his team-mates lacked the mentality to bounce back from setbacks, and manager Arne Slott agreed that his team-mates did not react well enough to Haaland’s opener.
Van Dijk said: “All I can do is apologize to the fans, especially for the result we showed in the second half.
“Obviously you come out of the dressing room with the right intentions and want to score 2-1 as quickly as possible and change the game.
“The opposite happens and it’s obviously very difficult to come back from 3-0 here. But we shouldn’t give up and that may have happened at some point.”
“We let the fans down, we let ourselves down, and we let the coach down. The way we played, especially in the second half, it must have hurt for everyone. It definitely hurt me.”
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The Sunday Supplement panel will discuss Liverpool’s 4-0 FA Cup defeat to Manchester City and what the future holds for Arne Slott if the Reds continue to struggle.
Following the disastrous result, the pressure has increased on Slott ahead of a tough Champions League quarter-final against Paris Saint-Germain.
Van Dijk said: “It’s the same thing, right? Obviously he has a responsibility as a manager, but it’s us on the pitch who have to do it.”
“The fact is that PSG are waiting for us. We saw them a little bit on Friday and it will be a very tough situation again. So we have to get mentally ready as soon as possible.
“I was lucky to play for Liverpool for many years and the main thing we always had was unity. Now obviously we are in a bit of a transition period and we have to find that.
“It’s hard to perform every two days if you don’t keep it going.”
Liverpool’s struggles have put their participation in next season’s Champions League in jeopardy.
Between the two games against PSG, we have an important game against Fulham in the Premier League.
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Arne Slott answers some tough questions after Liverpool’s 4-0 defeat to Manchester City in the FA Cup.
“We have a responsibility to ourselves and especially to our fans. If we want to achieve something this season, we have to try to create something special in the next three games,” Van Dijk said.
“We’re thinking about how we can turn this round around. We’ve been in this situation for almost 75 percent of the season.
“We go back to games where we lose on intensity and we lose on how hard we want to play. This is a difficult game and everyone has to look at themselves.”
Analysis: Worst loss in slots history
Adam Bate of Sky Sports:
At first glance, the slot may offer some reassurance in its underlying statistics. Ownership was shared. Both teams had 11 attempts on goal. In fact, Liverpool had 36 touches inside the opponent’s penalty area compared to 21 for Manchester City. Does that mean they are evenly matched?
Not completely. This makes it clear that City boast the best unstoppable striker on the planet, but it also shows what is eroding Liverpool’s season. They are supposed to be a top team, but they are bad in both boxes. Details still cost money.
Van Dijk didn’t have to kick O’Reilly in the box, giving City the chance to take the lead. Salah also squandered the first clear chance of the match, missing a penalty placed in the same spot as Haaland had scored in the first half.
These were the slot winners as Alisson Becker was injured again. Florian Wirtz, their record signing, graced too many of these big matches rather than dominating them. Liverpool are missing something at full-back and their midfield is unbalanced.
There were times when the forwards would push up high and the defense would drop, creating space, and this Liverpool side didn’t have the leg strength to deal with it. Dominik Szoboszlai’s solo pursuit of shadows is the centerpiece of the campaign.
Liverpool are struggling, but no team other than Manchester City has beaten them more than this strange goal this season. This was somehow different, but still coming. The kind of excuses that supporters have had to hear all year will no longer be covered.
