Liverpool crashed out of the FA cup in extremely unceremonious fashion against Manchester City on Saturday. The Reds actually started the match brightly, and created quite a few solid chances with a mixture of slick interplay and a couple of quick, direct balls to beat the high line. As we have seen too many times this season, the pressure did not translate into goals, the Liverpool wilted after conceding a silly foul in the box to give away a penalty kick that send Manchester City into the clear.
After the match, Dominik Szoboszlai did not hold back in the assessment of the match. He was extremely frustrated with how the side capitulated after conceding the first, eventually letting in four goals over the span of just 20 minutes of match play.
“When you do something and there is no result for it, it makes no sense. We had chances and missed them; we conceded an easy penalty. We lose 4-0. We cannot concede as much as we concede. Nothing else to say.”
“It’s hard to win here. After 1-0 down you still believe. At 2-0 down, it’s our own fault to come in at half-time conceding in the last minute another goal. At 2-0 the chances are lower and lower. You come out and want to show we are able to come back and you concede a third one, from then on there is no more chance to come back.”
More than anything, Szoboszlai was extremely disappointed in the lack of fighting spirit after the squad went down a goal. He and his teammates need to get their heads screwed on straight before facing PSG in the Champions League quarterfinals on Wednesday as Liverpool have on last competition to to make a deep run in during what has been a very disappointing season.
“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 in our head this is not the season we would like to end.”
When asked about why Liverpool were missing the fighting spirit, as he described it, Szoboszlai was unsure why the mentality wavered. He feels the squad need to really focus on always being there for each other.
“That’s a good question. I don’t know. 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.”
“We have to forget as much as we can and as soon as we can and just keep on fighting all the time. I always say when we do it and 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.”
