Virgil van Dijk suggests Liverpool players 'gave up' during 4-0 thrashing at hands of Man City

In a season already defined by inconsistency, the Reds reached a new low on Saturday afternoon as they were dismantled by their rivals. While Liverpool held their own for the opening stages, the floodgates opened before half-time, leading to a dejected second-half display that left the travelling supporters heading for the exits long before the final whistle.

Speaking after the defeat, Van Dijk was brutally honest about the lack of resilience shown on the pitch. "Obviously you come out of the dressing room with the right intentions to score and make it 2-1 and change the game. But the opposite happened and then to come back from 3-0 is obviously very difficult here. But also you shouldn’t give up, and that’s maybe what happened at a certain point," the captain admitted.

The atmosphere surrounding the club has become increasingly toxic as this season’s statistics continue to worsen. The 4-0 thrashing at the Etihad represented another low point in what has become the club's worst campaign in terms of losses since 2014-15. Many of the 8,000 travelling fans didn't stick around to see the end, leaving Arne Slot to applaud a nearly empty away section at full-time.

Van Dijk offered an apology to the supporters, acknowledging that the players had failed to meet the standards expected of them. "The fans were there to support us and I can only apologise to the fans for what we have shown. We let ourselves down and the manager - but we let our fans down today. Up until the penalty, maybe not, but the way we played, especially in the second half, must hurt for everyone. It definitely hurts me," he added.

The frustration isn't limited to the captain's office. Midfielder Dominik Szoboszlai offered even harsher words, labelling the current trajectory a "catastrophic season" as the club risks missing out on major European competition.

"We have to pull ourselves together, because if we play like this, we can very quickly forget about the Champions League participation, and next year's Champions League participation as well," the midfielder warned. "So we have to look into ourselves and start thinking about how we can turn this catastrophic season into a season we can remember." The Hungarian midfielder was also seen in a tense confrontation with frustrated supporters after the match.

Despite the domestic disaster, Liverpool’s season technically remains alive with a Champions League quarter-final showdown against Paris Saint-Germain looming. However, Van Dijk is under no illusions regarding the difficulty of the task ahead following such a demoralising result in the FA Cup. He warned that everyone must look at themselves in the mirror if they hope to salvage anything from the remainder of the year.

"PSG is now waiting for us. I watched them yesterday a little bit and it will be so tough again. But we have a responsibility, not only to ourselves but especially to the fans. If we want to make something out of this season, we have to try and do something special in the next three games," the defender concluded.