Speaking in the aftermath, Van Dijk hinted there was a lack of unity and spirit inside the current squad, with Liverpool's summer arrivals struggling to buy into the dressing room culture.
"I’ve been there already many times this season when I’ve had hope and then we couldn’t build on performances," he said.
"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.
"Am I sick of repeating myself? 100%, of course. I can understand the fans’ frustration as well.
"Obviously you come out of the dressing room (after half-time) 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.
"But also you shouldn’t give up, and that’s maybe what happened at a certain point. It’s mentally very tough at the moment, I must say.
"I've been lucky enough to play for Liverpool for so many years and the main thing always was the togetherness.
"Now, obviously, we are in a little bit of a transition so we have to find it. It's still difficult to then perform each and every three days if we don't have it consistently. The togetherness on the pitch to show it for 90 plus minutes every three or four days. That is difficult."
Same old story
The Dutchman is also quoted by the Liverpool Echo: "I am trying to think how we can turn it around but we have been going through this for almost 75% of the season.
"Where we do well but we can’t build on certain things and we fall back into games where we get beat on intensity or beat on how much you really want to go for it. It is a difficult one to take and everyone has to look at themselves. I am speaking for myself but it is mentally tough at the moment to take this.
"We already spoke about it in the dressing room but it’s on us. The fans were there to support us and I can only apologise to the fans for what we have shown, especially the second half by the way. It’s difficult. Mentally it has been a very tough season overall.
"But we have a responsibility, not only to ourselves but especially to the fans and, if we want to make something out of this season, we have to try and do something special in the next three games."