Slot Offers No Excuses and Vows to Plot Way From Slump

Arne Slot declared he had to “look at myself” after Liverpool suffered a sixth defeat in seven Premier League matches at home against Forest and insisted he would discover a solution out of the champions’ poor run.

Forest, in the relegation zone before kick off, produced the largest victory at Anfield in their history as the Merseyside club fell to an eighth defeat in 11 matches in all competitions. The British record signing, the Swedish striker, was once more unnoticeable and Liverpool contended Murillo’s opener ought to have been disallowed for comparable grounds to Virgil van Dijk’s chalked-off goal versus City before the international break. But Slot conceded the buck rested with him and made no excuses.

“No one wishes to hear me now talking about officiating calls if you lose 3-0 in your own stadium to Nottingham Forest,” stated the Reds' boss. “I should examine myself first and my team, but it does show you how a goal can change the flow of a game. Earlier I was just waiting for us to net a goal. Later we hardly created any chances.

“Naturally there is a path forward, particularly with the quality footballers we have. No matter if you triumph or lose when you look back you are always thinking: ‘Where can we do better, in what aspects can we make changes?’ but that is different from questioning your abilities.

“I wish to stress I am responsible for the present defeats. You are responsible when you are victorious 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 far from good enough and I am to blame for that.”

Liverpool’s performance unravelled as Slot introduced several attacking changes when chasing the game. “It was the same on the road at Nottingham Forest last season,” he remarked. “I took Ibou [Ibrahima Konaté] off and brought on [Diogo] Jota and he scored immediately to make it 1-1. At that time it was courageous, currently it’s likely stupid.”

The Anfield side last lost two successive at Anfield Premier League fixtures by Forest in the sixties. The last time they lost consecutive league games by a three-goal scoreline was in 1965.

The manager said: “It was very bad. Competing on home soil, losing 3-0 regardless of which opponent you face is a terrible outcome. Surprising if you look at the opening 30 minutes of the game. I did not witness us creating so much in the opening 30 minutes maybe the entire season, and the first time they arrived in our box they found the back of the net.

“It wasn’t at City, but in every other game we have been the dominant team and were able to create chances. Lately it is almost consistently that we miss our opportunities and the ones we allow go in.”