Liverpool midfielder Dominik Szoboszlai slammed his side’s lack of fighting spirit and mentality as the champions were thrashed 4-0 by Manchester City in the FA Cup quarter-final.
Erling Haaland scored a hat-trick and Antoine Semenyo netted the other as City beat Liverpool for the third time this season and booked another trip to Wembley.
A large majority of the 7,600 away fans headed for an early exit as home supporters taunted under-fire Arne Slot with chants of ‘you’re getting sacked in the morning’.
Szoboszlai said: ‘The fighting spirit wasn’t there enough, the mentality wasn’t there enough. None of us were there to be honest as much as we could.
‘It’s a hard time but we have to stick together. On Wednesday there is another chance but we have to get it in our head this is not the season we would like to end.
‘I don’t know (why it happens). It’s hard to find words to be honest. We wanted this one so much. You lose 4-0 at City and it’s not the best.
‘I always say when we do it (fight) we are winning, when we don’t do it we are losing. You have to fight, work hard, be there for each other and that’s what we are missing sometimes.’
Slot, who now takes his team to Paris Saint-Germain for a crunch Champions League quarter-final this week, added: ‘I don’t think you have to ask me about the result because that speaks for itself, that is an unbelievable disappointment.
Dominik Szoboszlai goes over to the away fans after the heavy defeat at the Etihad
‘Losing is already a disappoint and then losing 4-0 is a big disappointment. The 20 minutes where we conceded four goals were not of our standard.’
Meanwhile, Pep Guardiola’s assistant Pep Lijnders was left astounded by Haaland after the Norwegian netted his 12th treble for City.
City have now reached a record eighth consecutive FA Cup semi-final and Lijnders believes the club’s No 9 has been asked to do too much in recent months when his form dipped.
‘I worked with a lot of good strikers, with a lot of goals, with a lot finals and trophies,’ Lijnders said. ‘The second goal was insane. He weighed up the attack, he flies, the way he puts the ball into the corner. I love these old-school striker goals. Cross, wait, commit, chip. I love it.
‘It is a crazy what we are asking. I am not saying he carries Norway but we all know how important he is for Norway, he feels that responsibility.
‘Then (here) feeling the responsibility to play and press and to set and to run in behind and to be available in the box and to keep the ball when the opposition defends man to man, there are a lot of things we ask and to do that every three days.’
Lijnders added: ‘It is clear then that not everything throughout a long season will go your way but it shows character again and mentality that he comes back in this fashion. He is not only lovely but he is a machine to work with. I like the guys who train like that.’
