Virgil van Dijk’s Stunning Admission Shows How Low Liverpool Have Sunk

Liverpool’s captain didn’t hold anything back in a crestfallen interview after the 4–0 defeat to Manchester City.

Virgil van Dijk was at fault in yet another Liverpool defeat. | Liverpool FC/Getty Images

Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk admitted that the team “gave up” during Saturday’s humbling 4–0 FA Cup quarterfinal defeat to Manchester City during a staggering interview littered with downbeat conclusions.

After a bright opening half-hour at the Etihad Stadium, Liverpool imploded during two separate bursts. Erling Haaland scored twice in the final 10 minutes of the first half, the first from a penalty which Van Dijk clumsily conceded.

The Reds had halftime to compose themselves yet emerged just as frazzled, shipping two more goals before the hour mark. Dominik Szoboszlai claimed he and his teammates had lacked a “fighting spirit” and suitable mentality. Van Dijk took an even stronger stance.

“Obviously, you come with the right intentions out of the dressing room to hopefully score the [goal to make it] 2–1 as soon as possible to change the game. But obviously the opposite happens,” the Dutch center back sighed to assembled reporters in the postmatch mixed zone.

“To come back from 3–0 is obviously very difficult over here. But also, you shouldn’t give up, and maybe at a certain point that’s what happened.”

It was a chastening defeat for the Reds. | Robbie Jay Barratt/AMA/Getty Images.

The final 30 minutes ebbed away without consequence as City toyed with their beaten prey. Rayan Cherki took particular delight in dancing around the listless red shirts before donning one himself while sat on City’s substitutes’ bench. As Arne Slot damningly admitted: “It was just a game where both teams accepted it was 4–0.”

“We let ourselves down, the manager down, but we let our fans down today,” Van Dijk added. “Up until the penalty, maybe not, but the way we especially played the second half, that must hurt for everyone, and it definitely hurts me.”

If Van Dijk’s comments on the contest in question were concerning, his hope for the future would have inspired little optimism.

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Van Dijk Questions Liverpool Squad’s ‘Togetherness’

Everything fell apart after the penalty. | Shaun Brooks/CameraSport/Getty Images

Van Dijk not only questioned the belief of his teammates but the actual bond between the squad. The Dutch skipper warned that “their quality is there” but was less convinced about the team’s “togetherness.”

“I’ve been lucky enough to play for Liverpool for so many years, the main thing that was always the thing was the togetherness,” Van Dijk explained. “And obviously we’re in a little bit of a transition, so we have to find that, but it’s still difficult to then perform each and every three days if we don’t have it [the togetherness] consistently.”

It was painfully poignant that Pep Lijnders was the man stood in the opposite dugout at the Etihad on Saturday while filling in for the suspended Pep Guardiola. Jürgen Klopp’s former assistant manager was part of Liverpool’s coaching staff which instilled the “mentality monsters” approach which defined that insatiable iteration of the all-conquering Merseyside outfit.

Van Dijk was part of the Liverpool team which delivered the most famous embodiment of that attitude when overturning a three-goal deficit against Barcelona in a 2019 Champions League semifinal with a 4–0 win at Anfield. Mohamed Salah was injured for that tie so watched the game from the stands wearing a T-shirt with three words emblazoned across it: “Never give up.”

By Van Dijk’s own reckoning, that sort of attitude is hard to cultivate with the club’s current players.

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‘Tough’ Challenges for Liverpool Keep on Coming

PSG are aiming to retain the Champions League title. | Visionhaus/Getty Images

If Liverpool were pulled apart by City, they will scarcely face an easier challenge with a trip to Paris Saint-Germain’s Parc des Princes on Wednesday evening. “PSG is waiting for us,” the crestfallen Van Dijk sheepishly warned while looking ahead to the Champions League quarterfinal first leg. “I watched them yesterday a little bit, and they will be so tough again.”

Van Dijk was asked if he could see any reason for hope on the horizon. “I’ve been there many times this season where I’ve had hope, and then we couldn’t build on performances,” he glumly replied.

“I’m trying to think how we can turn this around. We’ve been going through this almost 75% of the season already, where we do well and then we don’t, and 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.”

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