Slot Offers No Excuses and Vows to Plot Way From Slump

Arne Slot declared he needed to “examine my own performance” after the Reds suffered a sixth defeat in 7 English top-flight games at home to Nottingham Forest and affirmed he would find a way from the title holders' poor run.

Nottingham Forest, in the relegation zone prior to the match, produced the biggest win at Liverpool's stadium in their club records as Liverpool slipped to an 8th loss in eleven matches in every tournament. The British record signing, Alexander Isak, was once more anonymous and Liverpool argued Murillo’s opener should have been ruled out for similar reasons to the captain's chalked-off goal against Manchester City prior to the national team pause. But the manager admitted the responsibility stopped with him and made no excuses.

“Nobody wants to listen to me now speaking about officiating calls if you lose 3-0 at home to Forest,” stated the Liverpool head coach. “I ought to examine my own role initially and my squad, but it demonstrates you how a goal can alter the momentum of a match. Earlier I was just waiting for us to net a goal. Later we hardly created anything.

“Of course there is a path forward, particularly with the talented players we have. No matter if you triumph or are beaten when you reflect you are always considering: ‘In which areas can we do better, in what aspects can we make changes?’ but that is different from questioning yourself.

“I want to emphasise I am accountable for the current losses. You are answerable when you are winning but also liable when you are defeated. I can never provide sufficient excuses for us to have the outcomes we have. That is not acceptable and I am responsible for that.”

The team's display unravelled as the coach introduced several attacking substitutions when chasing the match. “It was the same away at Forest last season,” he said. “I took Ibou [Ibrahima Konaté] off and brought on [Diogo] Jota and he found the net straight away to equalize at 1-1. At that time it was courageous, currently it’s probably stupid.”

The Anfield side previously were defeated in back-to-back home league fixtures against Nottingham Forest in 1963. The most recent occasion they suffered consecutive top-flight matches by a 3-0 margin was in the mid-60s.

The manager commented: “It was very bad. Competing at home, conceding 3-0 regardless of which team you face is a terrible outcome. Unexpected if you consider the opening 30 minutes of the game. I haven’t seen us producing so much in the initial half-hour perhaps the entire season, and the initial occasion they entered in our box they scored.

“It did not happen against Manchester City, but in every other fixture we have been the dominant team and were capable to create chances. Recently it is nearly consistently that we miss our chances and the attempts we concede go in.”