Liverpool's Manager Provides Zero Justifications and Pledges to Find Route From Malaise

Arne Slot stated he had to “examine my own performance” after Liverpool suffered a 6th defeat in seven Premier League matches at home against Forest and affirmed he would discover a solution from the champions’ slump.

Nottingham Forest, fighting against the drop prior to the match, delivered the largest win at Anfield in their club records as the Merseyside club fell to an eighth defeat in eleven fixtures in all competitions. The most expensive domestic acquisition, the Swedish striker, was again unnoticeable and Liverpool argued Murillo’s first goal should have been disallowed for comparable grounds to Virgil van Dijk’s disallowed effort against City prior to the international break. But Slot conceded the buck stopped with him and made no excuses.

“Nobody wants to hear me now talking about officiating calls if you are defeated 3-0 at home to Forest,” said the Reds' boss. “I should look at my own role first and my squad, but it demonstrates you how a goal can change the momentum of a match. Earlier I was just hoping for us to score a goal. Later we hardly created anything.

“Of course there is a path forward, especially with the talented players we have. Regardless if you win or lose when you reflect you are always considering: ‘Where can we improve, in what aspects can we adjust?’ but that is different from questioning yourself.

“I want to stress I am responsible for the present defeats. You are responsible when you are winning but also liable when you are losing. I can not come up with enough excuses for us to have the results we have. That is far from good enough and I am responsible for that.”

The team's performance fell apart as Slot made several offensive changes when chasing the game. “It was the identical away at Forest last season,” he said. “I substituted Ibou [Ibrahima Konaté] off and put on the Portuguese forward and he scored straight away to equalize at 1-1. At that time it was courageous, currently it’s likely unwise.”

Liverpool last lost two successive at Anfield Premier League fixtures against Nottingham Forest in the sixties. The last time they lost back-to-back top-flight matches by a three-goal scoreline was in 1965.

Slot commented: “It was very bad. Competing at home, losing 3-0 regardless of which opponent you face is a very, very bad result. Unexpected if you look at the first half-hour of the game. I did not witness us producing so much in the initial 30 minutes perhaps the whole season, and the initial occasion they arrived in our penalty area they found the back of the net.

“It did not happen against Manchester City, but in every other fixture we have been the controlling team and were able to generate opportunities. Lately it is nearly consistently that we fail to convert our chances and the ones we concede find the net.”