Slot Offers No Excuses and Pledges to Plot Way Out of Malaise

Arne Slot stated he needed to “examine my own performance” after Liverpool endured a sixth defeat in 7 English top-flight matches at home against Forest and affirmed he would find a way out of the title holders' poor run.

Nottingham Forest, fighting against the drop prior to the match, delivered the biggest win at Anfield in their history as Liverpool fell to an eighth loss in 11 matches in every tournament. The most expensive domestic acquisition, the Swedish striker, was again anonymous and the home side argued Murillo’s first goal ought to have been disallowed for similar reasons to Virgil van Dijk’s disallowed effort against Manchester City before the international break. But the manager conceded the responsibility rested with him and made no excuses.

“Nobody wants to hear me now talking about refereeing decisions if you lose 3-0 in your own stadium to Nottingham Forest,” stated the Reds' boss. “I ought to look at my own role initially and my team, but it does show you how a goal can change the flow of a match. Before I was just hoping for us to score a strike. Afterwards we hardly generated any chances.

“Naturally there is a path forward, particularly with the quality footballers we have. Regardless if you triumph or are beaten when you look back you are always considering: ‘Where can we improve, in what aspects can we make changes?’ but that is something else from doubting yourself.

“I want to stress I am accountable for the present losses. You are responsible when you are winning but also responsible when you are losing. I can not provide sufficient excuses for us to have the results we have. That is not acceptable and I am to blame for that.”

The team's performance unravelled as the coach made several attacking substitutions when chasing the match. “It was the same on the road at Nottingham Forest the previous campaign,” he remarked. “I substituted Ibou [Ibrahima Konaté] out and brought on the Portuguese forward and he scored immediately to equalize at 1-1. At that time it was brave, now it’s likely stupid.”

The Anfield side last lost two successive home league games by Forest in 1963. The last time they suffered back-to-back top-flight matches by a 3-0 margin was in the mid-60s.

The manager commented: “It was very bad. Playing at home, conceding 3-0 no matter which team you face is a terrible result. Surprising if you look at the opening 30 minutes of the game. I did not witness us producing so many chances in the opening 30 minutes perhaps the entire season, and the first time they entered in our penalty area they scored.

“It did not happen at City, but in all other fixture we have been the controlling side and were capable to create opportunities. Recently it is nearly constantly that we miss our chances and the attempts we allow go in.”