Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk is well used to fighting from the front after a loss – his words after defeat to Manchester City in the FA Cup told a clear story.
Virgil van Dijk gets honest about Liverpool’s current situation (Image: Marc Atkins/Getty Images)
Virgil van Dijk is always on the front lines. Even after a game when his performance wasn’t up to par, he tells it like it is. As he admits, he does the same thing over and over again – apologizing for Liverpool’s below-average effort.
However, immediately after the FA Cup defeat to Manchester City, things looked a little different. The loss was made even more painful by the fact that the team he captained played well for more than 30 minutes and then surrendered.
Virgil, he chooses his words carefully, which is why one comment sounded like a warning bell. Speaking about the poor start to the second half with Liverpool leading by two goals, Van Dijk said: “Obviously we came out of the locker room with the right intentions to score a goal and make it 2-1 and change the game.
“But the opposite happens and it’s obviously very difficult to come back from 3-0 here. But we shouldn’t give up. It might have happened at some point.”
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Give up. The supporters certainly gave up and left in droves long before the final whistle.
It was a sight to behold as Arne Slott applauded the one or two remaining players in the 8,000-seat section of the supporters’ stand he visited. And Van Dijk fully understood why Liverpool fans had abandoned the team.
“The fans were there to cheer us on. I can only apologize to the fans for what we showed. We let ourselves and the coach down, but today we let the fans down.”
Virgil van Dijk says Liverpool players dropped manager Arne Slott at the Etihad Stadium (Image: James Gill – Danehouse/Getty Images)
“Maybe until the penalties, but the way we played especially in the second half must have hurt everyone. It definitely hurt me.”
“This season, we have experienced many times where we had hope but were unable to perform well. In the second half today, we didn’t match our intensity and couldn’t overcome our challenges, so it was tough. It was tough to lose 4-0 after that.”
Of course, Liverpool’s season is still alive. After all, there are only four games left until the Champions League final.
Then, an exciting showdown with Paris Saint-Germain in the last eight awaits. But Van Dijk knows that a wrecking ball by City is the worst possible preparation.
Erling Haaland scored his 12th hat-trick for Manchester City in the FA Cup victory over Liverpool (Image: Robbie Jay Barratt – AMA/Getty Images)
“We’re thinking about how we can turn things around, but we’ve been in this situation for almost 75 percent of the season. We’re doing well, but we can’t build on certain things and we go back to games where we lose on intensity and we lose on how hard we want to play,” he said.
“This is a difficult thing to accept and everyone has to look at themselves. I’m speaking for myself, but it’s mentally tough to accept this at the moment.”
But Van Dijk, Slott and Liverpool need to regroup for the Champions League quarter-final first leg in Paris. And that’s obviously difficult to do.
Arne Slott must try to inspire his team ahead of their Champions League clash with Paris Saint-Germain (Image: Shaun Brooks – CameraSport via Getty Images)
Van Dijk continued: “I have to say it’s very tough mentally at the moment. Mentally it’s been a very tough season overall.”
“As a matter of fact, PSG are waiting for us now. We saw them a little bit yesterday (Friday) and it will be another very tough game.
“But we have a responsibility not only to ourselves, but especially to our fans. If we want to achieve something this season, we have to try to do something special in the next three games.”
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