Florian Wirtz: Liverpool attacker disagrees with Virgil van Dijk’s…

Florian Wirtz: Liverpool attacker disagrees with Virgil van Dijk’s…

Liverpool attacker Florian Wirtz does “not agree directly” with captain Virgil van Dijk’s perception that they gave up of their FA Cup humiliation at Manchester City.

Reds boss Arne Slot also questioned Van Dijk’s criticism, claiming he “didn’t see players giving up” in the 4-0 quarter-final loss at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday.

Slot and Wirtz have been talking ahead of Wednesday’s Champions League quarter-final first leg at Paris Saint-Germain – another daunting game for Liverpool with the in-form holders having scored 15 objectives of their last 4 games.

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Arne Slot responds to Van Dijk comments about ‘giving up’ against Manchester City in the FA Cup

Liverpool have been 2-0 down at half-time at Man City, however conceded just 5 minutes after the restart, elevating questions as soon as again over their ability to deal with setbacks.

Van Dijk said after the game on Saturday: “To come back from 3-0 is obviously very difficult here – but also you shouldn’t give up and that’s maybe, at a certain point, what happened.”

Asked about Van Dijk’s criticism ahead of the PSG conflict, Wirtz said at a pre-match press convention: “I did not know about this, that he said this. But I feel I might not agree straight because we still tried to create possibilities to show the game round.

“Of course, when the game will get longer, and it’s in the eightieth minute, and you might be 3-0 down, it’s mentally troublesome to go and go and go.

“We just tried to give our best in the game – also when it was 3-0 or 4-0. I think we also had a few chances then. This is not our standards that we lose 4-0 to City. We wanted to go through the round. Next year, we should go better and be better on the pitch.”

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The Sunday Supplement panel talk about Liverpool’s exit from the FA Cup after a big 4-0 loss to Manchester City and what the future holds for Arne Slot if the Reds continue to wrestle

Slot was then questioned on Van Dijk’s comments, and he replied: “Sometimes in a game of football you want to do things in a certain way, but you are not able to for various reasons.

“But certainly one of them can positively be conceding objectives once you assume you might be playing effectively and are in the game. Usually in soccer, moments that damage you the most are just before half-time and just after half-time.

“Immediately after half-time, we conceded the third, then I saw indeed five minutes where it was too open, and players were struggling.

“The good factor for us was that after 4-0, City gave the impression to be okay with that, and we had fixed ball possession – they weren’t capable of create that a lot anymore.

“But I didn’t see players giving up in that part of the game, but I think it is also good for a captain to have a strong and firm reaction after a game like that.

“And hopefully it’s not only instantly after the game, however we as a team can present a strong and agency response tomorrow night.”

Slot admits PSG will run riot if Liverpool let requirements slip again

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Slot and Van Dijk look desponded after Liverpool’s 4-0 defeat to Man City in the FA Cup

Slot is aware of Liverpool are in for a pummelling at PSG if their performance drops prefer it did in the humiliating FA Cup exit to Manchester City.

A troublesome second season under the Dutchman hit a new low on Saturday lunchtime as the reigning Premier League champions collapsed both aspect of half-time in an embarrassing 4-0 last-eight loss.

The Reds rode their luck at the Parc des Princes last time period as they secured a 1-0 smash-and-grab last-16 first-leg win, however Slot is aware of a drop off akin to that seen at the Etihad Stadium will imply they don’t seem to be so fortunate in France this time.

“I can tell you, if we have the 20 minutes we had at City, if we have them tomorrow evening here, we will again concede four goals because these players over here know how to act if we are having 20 minutes like that,” the Liverpool supervisor said.

“It is a challenge for us to be from the first to the last second at the level we were at in the first 35 minutes (at City).

“If not, it should be a very exhausting evening again, prefer it was last yr the place we utterly deserved to lose 4-0 over right here or perhaps more.

“But that’s the beauty of football. In the 85th minute we scored a goal and it was almost like this was a robbery.”

Wirtz insists gamers still consider in under-fire Slot

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Slot signed Wirtz in the summer season

Away from Van Dijk’s comments, Wirtz insisted Liverpool’s gamers still consider in under-fire Slot.

The Dutchman gained the Premier League during a dream first season at Anfield, however his future is being debated as his second campaign involves an in depth.

Liverpool sit fifth in the standings after a strong start to their title defence ended abruptly, while any hope of home glory ended with Saturday’s 4-0 annihilation at Man City, which heaped strain on head coach Slot.

Asked if Liverpool’s gamers have been still playing for his or her supervisor, big-money summer season signing Wirtz said: “Yes, of course. We are believing in the manager.

“The team ought to consider in the supervisor because they gained the league last season.

“We had a lot of good games this season. We wanted it to be better, but it is what it is now.

“We still have issues to play for and every little thing I can say is that we consider in the supervisor and attempt to get our best on the pitch tomorrow.”

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Arne Slot responds to powerful questions after Liverpool’s 4-0 defeat to Manchester City in the FA Cup

He added: “I think we have shown this season already that we are good in big games and especially in Champions League games

“I feel the last round against Galatasaray was not straightforward because they’re also team, so we consider in ourselves.

“We have a good group together with good characters and great players, also a good manager who tries to prepare us well for the game.

“We consider in ourselves. We know we have now the second game at residence. That is perhaps a bonus, so we attempt to do our best, consider in ourselves and are available first of all with result to Anfield.”

But as confident as Wirtz is of getting a positive result at the Parc des Princes, the 22-year-old knows anything less than their best will make for a painful evening.

“We want tomorrow 90 minutes with full vitality and full dedication, in any other case we could have no likelihood,” he said.

“We want 90 minutes of being together as a team. Also in troublesome moments, if we concede, we have now to stay together and consider that we will win this game.

“I think on the weekend we tried too much at one point, so we were a little bit wild on the pitch. Yeah, so we have to fix that for the next game.”

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