Virgil van Dijk admits Liverpool were guilty of giving up during their harrowing FA Cup quarter-final humiliation at Manchester City - and are not showing the "togetherness" needed to salvage their season.
The Reds suffered their worst defeat of Arne Slot's reign when they were thumped 4-0 at the Etihad in the latest setback of a sorry campaign in which they have now lost 15 times - the most in one term since 2014/15 when they were beaten on 18 occasions.
Having started well against City, Liverpool shipped four goals inside a 20-minute period either side of half-time in which their lack of intensity was ruthlessly exposed.
Slot's side now face the onerous task of picking themselves up for Wednesday's Champions League quarter-final first leg at holders Paris Saint-Germain, who dumped the Reds out of the competition last season.
And Van Dijk offered a brutal assessment of Saturday's dreadful display while apologising to the travelling Liverpool supporters, many of whom had left long before the final whistle.
"I’ve been there already many times this season when I’ve had hope and then we couldn’t build on performances," he said. "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."
Van Dijk 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.
"But we have a responsibility, not only to ourselves but especially to the fans and, if we want to make something out of this season, we have to try and do something special in the next three games."
The defeat has further ramped up the pressure on beleaguered boss Slot, with Liverpool also facing a major battle to secure even a Champions League berth for next season having taken only one point from nine in the Premier League to stand in fifth place.
And asked if the players are doing enough for the head coach, Van Dijk said: "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."
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