Slot Provides No Excuses and Pledges to Plot Route From Malaise

Arne Slot declared he needed to “look at myself” after Liverpool suffered a sixth loss in seven Premier League matches on their own turf against Forest and affirmed he would find a way out of the champions’ poor run.

Nottingham Forest, fighting against the drop before kick off, delivered the biggest win at Liverpool's stadium in their history as Liverpool slipped to an 8th defeat in 11 matches in every tournament. The most expensive domestic acquisition, the Swedish striker, was again anonymous and Liverpool contended Murillo’s first goal should have been disallowed for similar reasons to Virgil van Dijk’s disallowed effort versus City prior to the national team pause. But the manager conceded the responsibility rested with him and made no excuses.

“No one wants to listen to me now talking about refereeing decisions if you lose 3-0 in your own stadium to Forest,” said the Liverpool head coach. “I should examine myself first and my team, but it does show you how a score can change the momentum of a game. Earlier I was just waiting for us to score a goal. Afterwards we barely created any chances.

“Naturally there is a way out, especially with the quality footballers we have. No matter if you triumph or lose when you reflect you are always thinking: ‘In which areas can we do better, in what aspects can we adjust?’ but that is something else from doubting your abilities.

“I want to emphasise I am accountable for the current defeats. You are answerable when you are winning but also liable when you are defeated. I can never come up with enough reasons for us to have the outcomes we have. That is not acceptable and I am to blame for that.”

Liverpool’s display unravelled as Slot made several offensive substitutions when pursuing the game. “It was the identical on the road at Nottingham Forest last season,” he said. “I substituted Ibou [Ibrahima Konaté] off and put on the Portuguese forward and he scored immediately to equalize at 1-1. Then it was courageous, currently it’s likely unwise.”

The Anfield side last lost two successive at Anfield Premier League fixtures by Forest in the sixties. The last time they suffered back-to-back league games by a three-goal margin was in the mid-60s.

Slot said: “It was very bad. Playing on home soil, losing 3-0 no matter which team you encounter is a very, very bad result. Surprising if you consider the opening 30 minutes of the match. I did not witness us creating so many chances in the opening 30 minutes perhaps the whole campaign, and the first time they arrived in our penalty area they scored.

“It wasn’t against Manchester City, but in all other fixture we have been the controlling side and were able to create chances. Recently it is almost constantly that we fail to convert our opportunities and the ones we concede find the net.”