Virgil van Dijk has issued a heartfelt apology to supporters after Liverpool were dumped out of the FA Cup by Manchester City.
Following the 4-0 defeat at the Etihad, the captain labelled the performance “unacceptable” as Arne Slot’s side turn itheir focus to a critical Champions League clash with Paris Saint Germain.
Arne Slot‘s men endured a nightmare trip to the Etihad on Saturday lunchtime, as the reigning Premier League champions collapsed to a shambolic 4-0 defeat, scuppering their chances of silverware in the FA Cup this season in the process.
Up until Erling Haaland confidently slotted home a 39th-minute penalty, though, the game was fairly balanced between Pep Guardiola’s hosts and the visitors from Merseyside.
Unfortunately, from that penalty onwards which was conceded by Van Dijk himself, there was only going to be one winner, as Haaland went on to collect a hat-trick, while Antoine Semenyo got in on the goalscoring act, as well, for the EFL Cup champions.
It was a bruising afternoon for the travelling Reds, with outspoken pundit – and former Liverpool winger – Jermaine Pennant even taking to social media after the one-sided contest to declare that “enough is enough” regarding Slot at the helm.
Sitting on 15 defeats for the season, now, the Dutchman is under severe pressure to turn around this slide in form, as the fixtures come thick and fast this April.
Arne Slot: 2025/26 Season Summary:
| Competition | Played | Won | Lost |
| Premier League | 31 | 14 | 10 |
| Champions League | 10 | 7 | 3 |
| Domestic Cups | 5 | 3 | 2 |
| Total | 46 | 24 | 15 |
Van Dijk hasn’t cowered away from the spotlight, as Slot’s captain offered his brutal thoughts on the 4-0 defeat, as Liverpool now prepares to face Paris Saint-Germain in a daunting Champions League first-leg tie, away from home.
Van Dijk’s brutal Liverpool admission
Speaking post match of the nightmarish 4-0 loss, Van Dijk didn’t mince his words whatsoever, as he accused his teammates of throwing in the towel, as City continually flooded forward.
He said: “I’ve been there already many times this season when I’ve had hope and then we couldn’t build on performances,
“Our second half, the intensity we didn’t match, the challenges we didn’t win, it was tough. To lose then 4-0 is tough.
“Am I sick of repeating myself? 100%, of course. I can understand the fans’ frustration as well.
“Obviously you come out of the dressing room (after half-time) 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.
“But also you shouldn’t give up, and that’s maybe what happened at a certain point. It’s mentally very tough at the moment, I must say.
“I’ve been lucky enough to play for Liverpool for so many years and the main thing always was the togetherness.
“Now, obviously, we are in a little bit of a transition so we have to find it. It’s still difficult to then perform each and every three days if we don’t have it consistently. The togetherness on the pitch to show it for 90 plus minutes every three or four days. That is difficult.”
Liverpool need to dust themselves down quickly, ahead of an intimidating trip to the Ligue 1 leaders Paris Saint Germain, but the Dutch colossus who conceded a clumsy penalty at the Etihad won’t have handed Reds fans much confidence with his comments, as he labelled the season as a whole as a “very tough” one mentally.
He further added: “I am trying to think how we can turn it around but we have been going through this for almost 75% of the season.
“Where we do well but we can’t build on certain things and we fall back into games where we get beat on intensity or beat on how much you really want to go for it. It is a difficult one to take and everyone has to look at themselves. I am speaking for myself but it is mentally tough at the moment to take this.
“We already spoke about it in the dressing room but it’s on us. The fans were there to support us and I can only apologise to the fans for what we have shown, especially the second half by the way. It’s difficult. Mentally it has been a very tough season overall.”
The post-match interview ended on a question as to whether Slot’s players are doing enough to ensure the head coach doesn’t get sacked, with the ever-present number four giving yet another honest response.
He concluded: “Well, 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.
“I’ve been repeating myself too many times. You know, obviously, it goes out in the media because obviously I’m here all the time.
“We let our fans down. We let ourselves down and the manager, but we let our fans down. Up until the penalty, maybe not, but the way we played especially in the second half and that must hurt for everyone. It definitely hurts me.”
The bruised 34-year-old sounds as if he wants to put this campaign behind him, but Liverpool needs to show some mental resolve for the games to come, to push this FA Cup humiliation firmly to one side.
Otherwise, Slot will surely be a goner.
