Liverpool have been accused of ‘picking and choosing’ their games in which to perform during a chastening season which lurches from one embarrassment to another.Whilst losing away to Manchester City isn’t a disgrace per se, the Reds’ abject 4-0 surrender to Pep Guardiola’s outfit on Saturday – thus ending their FA Cup campaign – was simply unacceptable, and the sight of many Kopites leaving the Etihad Stadium well before full-time was damning.DOWNLOAD THE OFFICIAL EMPIRE OF THE KOP APP FOR ALL THE LATEST & BREAKING UPDATES – STRAIGHT TO YOUR PHONE! ON APPLE & GOOGLE PLAYThat Virgil van Dijk basically admitted his team gave up during the match and Dominik Szoboszlai felt that nobody in red showed sufficient ‘fighting spirit’ spoke volumes about how brittle the mentality is within the current squad.Liverpool have been ‘picking and choosing’ their gamesIn an article for The Times headlined ‘Arne Slot’s latest problem: players picking and choosing moments to perform’, Paul Joyce highlighted those two players’ comments as a worrying insight into the mood within the dressing room.He wrote: ‘Slot must find a way out of this mess to ease the pressure, but the chances of straightening everything out are far more complicated when his squad effectively confesses it picks and chooses when to perform. Jürgen Klopp occasionally had to rant at his Liverpool squad and, when he did so, he carried a fear factor that left no one in any doubt about the direction of travel.’The journalist also mentioned an alarming statistic which contrasts how LFC have responded to being in losing positions this season compared to last, as summarised in the table below.2024/252025/26Matches in which LFC have trailed1918Wins62Draws72Losses614Loss percentage31.6%77.8%Want more Empire of the Kop coverage? Add us as a preferred source on Google to your favourites list for news you can trustLiverpool fans won’t accept tame surrendersEvery team in world football will lose matches – that’s why unbeaten league title wins become the stuff of legend – but the manner in which a team loses is significant.Liverpool’s sole defeat of the 2018/19 Premier League season was 2-1 away to Man City, when they threw everything at Guardiola’s side but were unlucky to come up just short. At the same venue on Saturday, they raised the white flag once Erling Haaland scored from the penalty spot.Slot’s side have beaten Arsenal, both Madrid clubs and Inter Milan in this campaign (the latter was away from home), so they’ve shown they can rise to stern challenges; but for each of those wins, there have been multiple tame surrenders to lower-placed opponents.Even the best players in the world make mistakes – the perfect footballer doesn’t exist – but to question the attitude of a professional at the highest level is a serious accusation, and it’s never one to be made lightly.The form book would suggest that Liverpool will lose to Paris Saint-Germain on Wednesday night, but it matters whether that’s a narrow defeat in a gallant performance, or another humiliation in front of a global audience in which tools are effectively downed at the first sign of adversity.The post Liverpool accused of ‘picking and choosing’ their games as chastening statistic laid bare appeared first on The Empire of The Kop.