Liverpool's Manager Provides No Excuses and Vows to Find Way Out of Malaise

Liverpool's head coach declared he had to “look at myself” after Liverpool endured a sixth defeat in 7 English top-flight games at home against Forest and affirmed he would discover a solution from the champions’ poor run.

Forest, fighting against the drop prior to the match, produced the largest win at Anfield in their history as the Merseyside club slipped to an eighth defeat in eleven matches in all competitions. The most expensive domestic acquisition, the Swedish striker, was again anonymous and Liverpool argued the defender's opener should have been disallowed for comparable grounds to Virgil van Dijk’s chalked-off goal versus Manchester City before the international break. But Slot admitted the responsibility rested with him and made no excuses.

“No one wants to listen to me now speaking about refereeing decisions if you lose 3-0 in your own stadium to Nottingham Forest,” said the Liverpool head coach. “I should look at my own role first and my squad, but it demonstrates you how a score can change the momentum of a match. Before I was just waiting for us to net a strike. Later we barely created anything.

“Of course there is a way out, particularly with the talented players we have. Regardless if you triumph or lose when you look back you are always thinking: ‘Where can we do better, where can we adjust?’ but that is something else from questioning your abilities.

“I want to stress I am accountable for the current losses. You are responsible when you are winning but also liable when you are losing. I can never provide enough reasons for us to have the outcomes we have. That is far from good enough and I am responsible for that.”

The team's display fell apart as Slot made several attacking changes when pursuing the match. “It was the same on the road at Forest last season,” he said. “I took Ibou [Ibrahima Konaté] off and put on [Diogo] Jota and he found the net immediately to equalize at 1-1. At that time it was brave, currently it’s probably stupid.”

The Anfield side last lost back-to-back home league games against Forest in the sixties. The most recent occasion they lost consecutive top-flight games by a 3-0 margin was in the mid-60s.

The manager said: “It was extremely poor. Competing at home, losing 3-0 regardless of which team you encounter is a very, very bad outcome. Surprising if you consider the first half-hour of the game. I haven’t seen us creating so many chances in the opening 30 minutes perhaps the entire season, and the initial occasion they entered in our box they scored.

“It wasn’t at City, but in every other game we have been the dominant team and were able to generate chances. Lately it is nearly consistently that we miss our chances and the attempts we allow find the net.”