National media react as 'unforgivable' Liverpool exposed - 'no fight, no character, little effort'

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How the national media reacted to Liverpool's 4-0 defeat at Manchester City in the FA Cup on Saturday afternoonAnd then there was one. Liverpool now have only the Champions League to play for after they were thrashed 4-0 at Manchester City in their FA Cup quarter-final on Saturday.Erling Haaland touched the ball only three times in the Reds penalty area but still managed to score a hat-trick with Antoine Semenyo also netting for the moneybags Etihad outfit.It made for the latest in a long list of pathetic afternoons this season.

All the latest news and analysis from Anfield on the Liverpool Echo's dedicated LFC Facebook pagePaul Joyce, formerly of this parish, was not impressed at the Liverpool players not addressing the basics of football."There is a soft underbelly to a squad that think they are better than they are judging by the amount of tricks and flicks seen at 0-0 and that speaks directly to a head coach who should not test the patience of owner Fenway Sports Group too much," he pens."FSG wants the Dutchman to turn things around, but on days such as this, where are the signs that anything other than a further unravelling is going to occur?"Whether it is Manchester City or someone else, too often you see players slaloming beyond those in Liverpool shirts. When Liverpool try to do the same, they are dragged back, brought down or jostled off the ball."Slot may view Liverpool’s season through the prism of missed chances and, therefore, what might have been.

Afterwards, he referenced how City overperformed their xG of 2.5 and Liverpool (1.4) underperformed theirs."Andy Hunter, another former ECHO operative, was similarly unenthused by the effort put in by the Liverpool players."No fight, no character and, unforgivably, precious little effort for the 20 minutes when Manchester City ran riot either side of the interval resulted in the heaviest defeat of Slot’s Liverpool reign," he writes. "But the revered Catalan will surely recognise that this iteration of Liverpool - his greatest rival on these shores - is nowhere near the brilliant teams with whom he went toe to toe with to such breathtaking levels previously."What exactly is this Liverpool team's biggest strength?