How the national media reacted to Liverpool's 4-0 defeat at Manchester City in the FA Cup on Saturday afternoon
Liverpool's players look disappointed during the FA Cup quarter-final embarrassment at Manchester City on Saturday, April 4 2026
Liverpool's players look disappointed during the FA Cup quarter-final embarrassment at Manchester City on Saturday, April 4 2026(Image: Shaun Brooks - CameraSport via Getty Images)
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And 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. And while the ECHO was in attendance and provided our usual level of coverage, here's how the national media viewed a dreadful result for Arne Slot's side.
Paul 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. "The pressure on the head coach rises again.
"A visit to the reigning European champions, Paris Saint-Germain, in the first leg of the Champions League quarter-finals on Wednesday threatens to turn the screw tighter. Liverpool will do well to keep the contest alive for the return at Anfield on this evidence. Inevitably, the spotlight intensifies on Slot, but what of a group of players – recipients of the highest wage bill in the Premier League last season – who effectively surrendered here on Saturday?
"Liverpool produced a showreel of embarrassments in the first of their two quarter-finals. "
Writing in the Daily Mail, Lewis Steele broke away from observing the Manchester City celebrations to look at the Liverpool fans leaving.
"This was the travelling Kop voting with their feet. Turning their backs not just physically but metaphorically," he opines. "They pay their money, follow this lot around the country and time and again have not been repaid on the pitch.
"Not that any fan is entitled to success, they know that. But they are entitled to question what on earth is going on with this mess of a season. Liverpool are not learning and none of them, especially the head coach, seem to have the answers to fix it.
"A season that, do not forget, started with them spending £450million on new signings from a position of strength having won the league. Forget any talk of a ‘transition’ year, that is a lame excuse only used in hindsight. This was supposed to be the time when they began building a dynasty."
Finally, the tall man Paul Gorst in the ECHO was among those to wonder exactly what this Liverpool team is, besides not being very good.
"If this is to be the final fixture overseen by Guardiola between these clubs, it is one he will cherish like few others over the best part of the last decade," he says. "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? It's becoming more difficult to establish that.
"At this stage of the season - and with just one win in five across competitions now - that is unacceptable, regardless of how deep your reserves of sympathy are for the embattled head coach. A Cup exit at the Etihad is no disgrace, but the manner of how this came about is another debate entirely."