Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk accused his staff of giving up and apologised to followers following their FA Cup humiliation at Manchester Metropolis.
The Reds’ hopes of salvaging home silverware from a disappointing season had been crushed in a 4-0 quarter-final defeat on the Etihad Stadium on Saturday.
After an evenly-matched opening half-hour, the guests capitulated after Van Dijk fouled Nico O’Reilly and Erling Haaland scored the ensuing penalty earlier than Haaland went on to finish a hat-trick as Metropolis struck 4 occasions in a devastating 18-minute spell spanning the interval.
Liverpool midfielder Dominik Szoboszlai claimed his team-mates lacked the mentality to recuperate from the setback and boss Arne Slot agreed that their response to Haaland’s opener was not ok.
Van Dijk stated: “I can solely apologise to the followers for what we’ve got proven, particularly the second half.
“Clearly you come out with the proper intentions from the dressing room, to hopefully rating for 2-1 as quickly as attainable to vary the sport.
“The alternative occurs and to return again from 3-0 is clearly very troublesome right here – but in addition you should not hand over and that is perhaps, at a sure level, what occurred.
“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 Complement panel focus on Liverpool’s exit from the FA Cup after an enormous 4-0 loss to Manchester Metropolis and what the longer term holds for Arne Slot if the Reds proceed to wrestle.
The dismal consequence intensified the stress on Slot forward of a frightening Champions League quarter-final journey to Paris Saint-Germain.
Van Dijk stated: “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 truth is now, PSG are ready for us. I watched them Friday a little bit bit. It is going to be so robust once more. So we’ve got to be prepared mentally as quickly as attainable.
“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 is troublesome to carry out each two days if you do not have it constantly.”
Liverpool’s struggles have additionally left their hopes of Champions League for subsequent season doubtful.
They face an important Premier League match with Fulham between their two video games towards PSG.
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Arne Slot responds to robust questions after Liverpool’s 4-0 defeat to Manchester Metropolis within the FA Cup.
Van Dijk stated: “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 am attempting to suppose how we will flip this spherical. We have been going by means of this virtually 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.”
Evaluation: Slot’s worst defeat but
Sky Sports activities’ Adam Bate:
On the face of it, Slot may take some consolation within the underlying statistics. The possession was shared. Each groups had 11 makes an attempt on objective. Liverpool truly had 36 touches within the opposition penalty field to Manchester Metropolis’s 21. A good contest, then?
Not fairly. And whereas that reveals one thing about Metropolis boasting the perfect out-and-out striker on the planet, it additionally signifies simply what has undermined Liverpool’s season. For a supposedly prime staff, they’re dangerous in each bins. The small print proceed to value them.
Van Dijk didn’t have to kick O’Reilly contained in the field, gifting Metropolis the possibility to take the lead. Salah missed a penalty that was positioned on the identical spot from which Haaland had scored earlier on, having additionally wasted the sport’s first clear probability.
With Alisson Becker injured once more, these are Slot’s match-winners. Florian Wirtz, their file signing has embellished too many of those huge matches moderately than dominate them. Liverpool have misplaced one thing at full-back, whereas the steadiness in midfield is off.
There have been occasions when the forwards would push excessive whereas the defence would drop off, opening areas that this Liverpool don’t have the legs to deal with. The sight of Dominik Szoboszlai chasing shadows on his personal has been a function of the marketing campaign.
For all Liverpool’s struggles, no staff apart from Manchester Metropolis has crushed them by greater than the odd objective this season. This was someway completely different and but additionally coming. The form of excuses that supporters have needed to hearken to all yr is not going to cowl it now.
