Liverpool's Manager Provides No Excuses and Pledges to Plot Route Out of Slump

Liverpool's head coach stated he needed to “look at myself” after the Reds endured a sixth loss in 7 Premier League matches at home to Nottingham Forest and affirmed he would discover a solution out of the champions’ poor run.

Nottingham Forest, in the relegation zone before kick off, delivered the biggest win at Anfield in their history as Liverpool slipped to an eighth defeat in 11 fixtures in every tournament. The British record signing, Alexander Isak, was once more anonymous and the home side contended Murillo’s first goal ought to have been disallowed for similar reasons to Virgil van Dijk’s disallowed effort against Manchester City before the national team pause. But Slot admitted the responsibility stopped with him and offered no alibis.

“Nobody wants to hear me now speaking about refereeing decisions if you are defeated 3-0 in your own stadium to Nottingham Forest,” said the Liverpool head coach. “I should look at my own role initially and my squad, but it demonstrates you how a score can alter the flow of a match. Before I was just waiting for us to net a goal. Later we barely generated anything.

“Of course there is a way out, particularly with the talented players we have. Regardless if you win 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 yourself.

“I wish to stress I am responsible for the present losses. You are answerable when you are winning but also responsible when you are losing. I can never come up with enough excuses for us to have the results we have. That is far from acceptable and I am responsible for that.”

Liverpool’s display fell apart as the coach made several attacking substitutions when chasing the game. “It was the same on the road at Forest last season,” he remarked. “I substituted the French defender off and brought on [Diogo] Jota and he scored immediately to equalize at 1-1. Then it was brave, currently it’s probably stupid.”

Liverpool previously were defeated in two successive at Anfield league fixtures against Nottingham Forest in 1963. The most recent occasion they suffered consecutive top-flight games by a three-goal scoreline was in 1965.

Slot said: “It was very bad. Competing on home soil, conceding 3-0 regardless of which opponent you face is a terrible outcome. Surprising if you consider the first half-hour of the game. I did not witness us creating so much in the opening half-hour perhaps the entire season, and the first time they arrived in our box they found the back of the net.

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