Paul Scholes hammers Virgil van Dijk after 'horrendous' Liverpool admission

Virgil van Dijk surprised some with his post-game comments on Saturday, when he suggested that Liverpool's players gave up after Manchester City moved into a strong lead

Paul Scholes and Nicky Butt laid into Virgil van Dijk(Image: The Good, The Bad & The Football)

Paul Scholes and Nicky Butt laid into Virgil van Dijk after the Liverpool captain said that the team gave up during Saturday's FA Cup humiliation at the hands of Manchester City.

Liverpool conceded four goals in the space of 20 minutes either side of half-time to crash out of the competition, leaving the Champions League as the Reds' only hope of silverware for the remainder of the season.

After the game, Van Dijk fronted up to the media and apologized to Liverpool's fans, but he raised eyebrows when he suggested that the players didn't give their all throughout the game. "It’s on us," Van Dijk said.

“The fans were there to support us, and I can only apologize to the fans for what we have shown, especially the second half. It’s difficult. Mentally, it has been a very tough season overall.

“You come out of the dressing room with the right intentions to score and make it 2-1 and change the game, but the opposite happened and then to come back from 3-0 is obviously very difficult here.

"But also you shouldn’t give up, and that’s maybe what happened at a certain point. Our second half, the intensity we didn’t match, the challenges we didn’t win, it was tough. To lose then 4-0 is tough.”

Van Dijk gave an eyebrow-raising comment after Liverpool's loss to City(Image: Photo by Marc Atkins/Getty Images)

Scholes and Butt addressed Van Dijk's comments on the latest The Good, The Bad & The Football podcast.

Butt said: "I think that from your captain, it's horrendous. Your captain, your leader. Say what you want in the changing rooms to each other, go at each other as much as you want, close the doors.

"But to come out and say it on TV... if you're a Liverpool fan, you're going 'what do you mean you give up, what the f--- is that about, giving up?'

"I'm an older guy, I played football a long time ago, but I don't see why you would come out and say that."

Scholes chimed in: "They're letting the manager down really, when you say stuff like that. Imagine if we'd have said that in front of Sir Alex – oh my God, oh my God."

Butt responded: "If you say you'd give up on a football pitch, I'm telling you now, you wouldn't play again [under Ferguson].

"Or they [the players] would be in this morning, and the manager would be saying, 'you said that, you're the captain, you point out who's giving up'.

"And then the players would have to answer whether they've given up or not, and it would be going off like you wouldn't believe."