Liverpool's Manager Offers No Excuses and Vows to Plot Route From Malaise

Arne Slot declared he had to “examine my own performance” following the Reds endured a 6th loss in seven Premier League games at home against Nottingham Forest and affirmed he would discover a way out of the title holders' slump.

Forest, fighting against the drop before kick off, delivered the largest win at Anfield in their history as the Merseyside club fell to an 8th defeat in eleven matches in every tournament. The British record signing, the Swedish striker, was again unnoticeable and the home side argued Murillo’s first goal ought to have been ruled out for similar reasons to the captain's disallowed effort against Manchester City prior to the national team pause. But the manager admitted the buck rested with him and offered no alibis.

“No one wants to listen to me now speaking about officiating calls if you are defeated 3-0 in your own stadium to Nottingham Forest,” stated the Liverpool head coach. “I should examine my own role first and my team, but it does show you how a goal can alter the momentum of a match. Before I was just waiting for us to score a strike. Later we hardly generated any chances.

“Of course there is a way out, particularly with the quality players we have. Regardless if you win or are beaten when you reflect you are always considering: ‘Where can we improve, in what aspects can we make changes?’ but that is different from doubting your abilities.

“I wish to emphasise I am accountable for the present losses. You are responsible when you are winning but also responsible when you are losing. I can never provide enough excuses for us to have the results we have. That is not acceptable and I am responsible for that.”

The team's display fell apart as the coach made multiple attacking changes when chasing the match. “It was the same away at Nottingham Forest the previous campaign,” he said. “I took Ibou [Ibrahima Konaté] out and put on [Diogo] Jota and he scored straight away to make it 1-1. At that time it was courageous, currently it’s probably unwise.”

The Anfield side last lost back-to-back home league fixtures by Forest in the sixties. The last time they lost consecutive top-flight games by a 3-0 margin was in 1965.

The manager commented: “It was extremely poor. Playing on home soil, losing 3-0 regardless of which opponent you encounter is a terrible outcome. Unexpected if you look at the opening 30 minutes of the game. I haven’t seen us creating so many chances in the initial half-hour perhaps the entire campaign, and the first time they entered in our box they scored.

“It wasn’t at City, but in all other fixture we have been the dominant side and were capable to generate chances. Lately it is almost constantly that we fail to convert our opportunities and the attempts we allow go in.”