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Beth Lindop
Multiple Authors
MANCHESTER, England — Dominik Szoboszlai criticized Liverpool for their lack of “fighting spirit” during a 4-0 defeat against Manchester City in the FA Cup, stating it is “hard to find the words” to describe the team’s dismal performance.
Despite a promising start at the Etihad, Liverpool conceded four goals in just 20 minutes around halftime. This defeat marks a troubling trend this season, with the Reds managing only two victories in the 19 matches where they have fallen behind.
This loss is the heaviest under coach Arne Slot and represents Liverpool’s largest defeat since October 2020.
“When you put in effort but don’t see results, it feels pointless,” Szoboszlai remarked to TNT Sports. “We created chances but failed to capitalize; conceding an easy penalty hurt us. Losing 4-0 is unacceptable. We must do better defensively.”
“It’s challenging to win here. After going 1-0 down, there’s still hope; at 2-0, we’ve only made it harder for ourselves by conceding just before halftime. Once we fell to 3-0, our chances of recovery vanished.”
“We lacked the necessary fighting spirit and mentality. We need to rally together during this tough period. There’s another opportunity on Wednesday, but we have to understand that this season isn’t ending the way we hoped.”
When asked why Liverpool struggled to match City’s intensity, Szoboszlai replied, “That’s a great question. I don’t have an answer. It’s challenging to articulate. We wanted this match so badly, and losing 4-0 to City is disappointing.”
“We need to move past this quickly and continue to fight. I always say that our success comes from hard work and unity; without that, we end up losing. Sometimes, we fall short there.”
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Szoboszlai’s remarks were addressed to Slot afterward.
“I should ask him what specific time he’s referring to,” Slot said. “I didn’t sense a lack of spirit until after they scored the first goal. During that brief period at the start of the second half, I indeed felt we were missing that fighting spirit — the desire to win duels and make it difficult for our opponents to pass, cross, or shoot. We need to improve in that area ahead of Wednesday’s match against PSG.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.