Florian Wirtz: Liverpool attacker disagrees with Virgil van Dijk’s ‘gave up’ criticism after Man Metropolis FA Cup rout

Liverpool attacker Florian Wirtz does “not agree directly” with captain Virgil van Dijk’s perception that they gave up of their FA Cup humiliation at Manchester Metropolis.

Reds boss Arne Slot additionally questioned Van Dijk’s criticism, claiming he “didn’t see players giving up” within the 4-0 quarter-final loss on the Etihad Stadium on Saturday.

Slot and Wirtz had been talking forward of Wednesday’s Champions League quarter-final first leg at Paris Saint-Germain – one other daunting recreation for Liverpool with the in-form holders having scored 15 objectives of their final 4 video games.

Liverpool had been 2-0 down at half-time at Man Metropolis, however conceded simply 5 minutes after the restart, elevating questions as soon as once more over their means to deal with setbacks.

Van Dijk mentioned after the sport on Saturday: “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.”

Requested about Van Dijk’s criticism forward of the PSG conflict, Wirtz mentioned at a pre-match press convention: “I did not learn about this, that he mentioned this. However I believe I might not agree immediately as a result of we nonetheless tried to create possibilities to show the sport round.

“After all, when the sport will get longer, and it’s within the eightieth minute, and you might be 3-0 down, it’s mentally tough to go and go and go.

“We just tried to give our best in the game – also when it was 3-0 or 4-0. I think we also had a few chances then. This is not our standards that we lose 4-0 to City. We wanted to go through the round. Next year, we should go better and be better on the pitch.”

Slot was then questioned on Van Dijk’s feedback, and he replied: “Sometimes in a game of football you want to do things in a certain way, but you are not able to for various reasons.

“However one among them can positively be conceding objectives if you suppose you might be taking part in effectively and are within the recreation. Normally in soccer, moments that damage you probably the most are simply earlier than half-time and simply after half-time.

“Immediately after half-time, we conceded the third, then I saw indeed five minutes where it was too open, and players were struggling.

“The nice factor for us was that after 4-0, Metropolis gave the impression to be okay with that, and we had fixed ball possession – they weren’t in a position to create that a lot anymore.

“But I didn’t see players giving up in that part of the game, but I think it is also good for a captain to have a strong and firm reaction after a game like that.

“And hopefully it’s not solely instantly after the sport, however we as a workforce can present a powerful and agency response tomorrow night.”

Slot admits PSG will run riot if Liverpool let standards slip again

Slot is aware of Liverpool are in for a pummelling at PSG if their efficiency drops prefer it did within the humiliating FA Cup exit to Manchester Metropolis.

A tough second season below the Dutchman hit a brand new low on Saturday lunchtime because the reigning Premier League champions collapsed both aspect of half-time in an embarrassing 4-0 last-eight loss.

The Reds rode their luck on the Parc des Princes final time period as they secured a 1-0 smash-and-grab last-16 first-leg win, however Slot is aware of a drop off akin to that seen on the Etihad Stadium will imply they don’t seem to be so fortunate in France this time.

“I can tell you, if we have the 20 minutes we had at City, if we have them tomorrow evening here, we will again concede four goals because these players over here know how to act if we are having 20 minutes like that,” the Liverpool supervisor mentioned.

“It is a challenge for us to be from the first to the last second at the level we were at in the first 35 minutes (at City).

“If not, it will be a very onerous night time once more, prefer it was final 12 months the place we fully deserved to lose 4-0 over right here or perhaps extra.

“But that’s the beauty of football. In the 85th minute we scored a goal and it was almost like this was a robbery.”

Wirtz insists gamers nonetheless consider in under-fire Slot

Away from Van Dijk’s feedback, Wirtz insisted Liverpool’s gamers nonetheless consider in under-fire Slot.

The Dutchman received the Premier League throughout a dream first season at Anfield, however his future is being debated as his second marketing campaign involves a detailed.

Liverpool sit fifth within the standings after a powerful begin to their title defence ended abruptly, whereas any hope of home glory ended with Saturday’s 4-0 annihilation at Man Metropolis, which heaped strain on head coach Slot.

Requested if Liverpool’s gamers had been nonetheless taking part in for his or her supervisor, big-money summer season signing Wirtz mentioned: “Yes, of course. We are believing in the manager.

“The workforce ought to consider within the supervisor as a result of they received the league final season.

“We had a lot of good games this season. We wanted it to be better, but it is what it is now.

“We nonetheless have issues to play for and every thing I can say is that we consider within the supervisor and attempt to get our greatest on the pitch tomorrow.”

He added: “I think we have shown this season already that we are good in big games and especially in Champions League games

“I believe the final spherical in opposition to Galatasaray was not straightforward as a result of they’re additionally an excellent workforce, so we consider in ourselves.

“We have a good group together with good characters and great players, also a good manager who tries to prepare us well for the game.

“We consider in ourselves. We all know we have now the second recreation at dwelling. That’s perhaps a bonus, so we attempt to do our greatest, consider in ourselves and are available to begin with with an excellent consequence to Anfield.”

But as confident as Wirtz is of getting a positive result at the Parc des Princes, the 22-year-old knows anything less than their best will make for a painful evening.

“We’d like tomorrow 90 minutes with full power and full dedication, in any other case we could have no probability,” he said.

“We’d like 90 minutes of being collectively as a workforce. Additionally in tough moments, if we concede, we have now to stay collectively and consider that we will win this recreation.

“I think on the weekend we tried too much at one point, so we were a little bit wild on the pitch. Yeah, so we have to fix that for the next game.”