Liverpool's Manager Provides Zero Justifications and Vows to Find Route Out of Malaise

Arne Slot stated he had to “look at myself” following the Reds suffered a 6th defeat in 7 Premier League matches at home against Forest and insisted he would discover a solution from the champions’ poor run.

Nottingham Forest, in the relegation zone prior to the match, delivered the largest victory at Anfield in their club records as the Merseyside club slipped to an 8th loss in eleven matches in all competitions. The most expensive domestic acquisition, Alexander Isak, was again anonymous and the home side argued the defender's first goal should have been ruled out for comparable grounds to the captain's disallowed effort against Manchester City before the international break. But the manager conceded the responsibility rested with him and offered no alibis.

“Nobody wants to listen to me now speaking about officiating calls if you are defeated 3-0 in your own stadium to Forest,” said the Reds' boss. “I ought to look at myself first and my squad, but it demonstrates you how a score can alter the momentum of a game. Earlier I was just waiting for us to score a goal. Afterwards we barely generated anything.

“Naturally there is a way out, particularly with the quality players we have. No matter if you triumph or lose when you look back you are always considering: ‘In which areas can we improve, in what aspects can we adjust?’ but that is different from doubting your abilities.

“I wish to emphasise I am accountable for the current defeats. You are responsible when you are victorious but also responsible when you are defeated. I can not come up with enough reasons for us to have the outcomes we have. That is not good enough and I am responsible for that.”

Liverpool’s display unravelled as Slot introduced several attacking changes when pursuing the match. “It was the identical on the road at Forest last season,” he remarked. “I took Ibou [Ibrahima Konaté] out and brought on [Diogo] Jota and he found the net straight away to make it 1-1. Then it was courageous, currently it’s probably stupid.”

Liverpool last lost back-to-back home league games against Forest in 1963. The last time they lost back-to-back league matches by a three-goal margin was in the mid-60s.

Slot said: “It was extremely poor. Competing at home, losing 3-0 regardless of which team you face is a very, very bad result. Unexpected if you consider the first half-hour of the match. I did not witness us producing so many chances in the opening 30 minutes perhaps the whole season, and the initial occasion they entered in our penalty area they found the back of the net.

“It wasn’t at City, but in all other game we have been the controlling team and were able to generate chances. Recently it is almost consistently that we fail to convert our opportunities and the attempts we allow go in.”