Liverpool’s two leaders – and highest-paid players – came in for the most criticism after their 4-0 loss to Man City, as Virgil van Dijk and Mo Salah both struggled.
The fallout of Liverpool’s exit from the FA Cup may be felt more in weeks to come, with fans leaving the Etihad early in a clear sign that Arne Slot has lost their support.
Those on the pitch on Saturday deserved just as much scrutiny, with few coming away with any credit.
Here we compare our player ratings with those of the Liverpool Echo‘s Ian Doyle, the Mail‘s Lewis Steele and This Is Anfield’s readers.
Unsurprisingly given one gave away a penalty at one end and one missed a penalty at the other, Van Dijk (3.93) and Salah (3.53) averaged the lowest ratings by far.
“Liverpool looked like they were going to concede every time City went forward in the second half,” was Steele’s verdict on Van Dijk’s shaky display.
Doyle noted that, when it came to Salah, it was “not his day” while Steele pointed to one missed chance which “summed up his game and season.”
MANCHESTER, ENGLAND - Saturday, April 4, 2026: Liverpool's Florian Wirtz during the FA Cup Quarter Final match between Manchester City FC and Liverpool FC at the City of Manchester Stadium. (Photo by David Rawcliffe/Propaganda)
Interestingly Steele gave both Salah and Florian Wirtz a three out of 10 rating, while This Is Anfield‘s David Lynch argued that the German was Liverpool’s standout player.
“Wirtz was at the heart of Liverpool’s best moments in the game early doors but was let down by what happened behind him,” Lynch wrote on a six-out-of-10 performance.
“How good would he look in a dominant team?”
Man City 4-0 Liverpool: What the stats say
Though Milos Kerkez averaged the highest rating from those watching on, the left-back fared considerably worse in terms of the data via FotMob.
Their top performers were Dominik Szoboszlai and Hugo Ekitike, whose statistical output valued them both at 7.2.
Szoboszlai created the joint-most chances of any Liverpool player, tied with Ryan Gravenberch on two, while Ekitike was tidy but unspectacular, completing all of his attempted passes (23/23).
Van Dijk was the lowest-rated player with goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili a close second.
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