Liverpool's Manager Provides No Excuses 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 English top-flight games on their own turf against Forest and affirmed he would find a solution out of the champions’ poor run.

Forest, fighting against the drop prior to the match, produced the biggest victory at Anfield in their history as the Merseyside club slipped to an eighth defeat in 11 fixtures in every tournament. The British record signing, the Swedish striker, was again anonymous and Liverpool argued the defender's first goal ought to have been disallowed for similar reasons to the captain's disallowed effort against City before the international break. But Slot admitted the responsibility rested with him and made no excuses.

“Nobody wants to listen to me now talking about officiating calls if you lose 3-0 at home to Forest,” stated the Reds' boss. “I should look at my own role initially and my squad, but it does show you how a score can alter the flow of a game. Earlier I was just hoping for us to net a goal. Later we barely created any chances.

“Of course there is a way out, especially with the quality players we have. Regardless if you win or lose when you reflect you are always considering: ‘In which areas can we improve, where can we make changes?’ but that is something else from questioning yourself.

“I wish to stress I am responsible for the current losses. You are answerable when you are victorious but also liable when you are losing. I can not provide enough reasons for us to have the results we have. That is not acceptable and I am to blame for that.”

The team's performance unravelled as the coach made multiple offensive substitutions when pursuing the match. “It was the same on the road at Nottingham Forest the previous campaign,” he remarked. “I substituted the French defender off and put on the Portuguese forward and he scored immediately to make it 1-1. Then it was courageous, now it’s likely unwise.”

Liverpool previously were defeated in back-to-back home Premier League games against Forest in 1963. The last time they suffered consecutive top-flight matches by a 3-0 scoreline was in 1965.

Slot commented: “It was extremely poor. Competing at home, losing 3-0 no matter which opponent you encounter is a terrible result. Unexpected if you consider the opening 30 minutes of the match. I haven’t seen us producing so many chances in the initial half-hour maybe the entire campaign, and the first time they entered in our box they found the back of the net.

“It wasn’t against Manchester City, but in all other fixture we have been the dominant side and were able to generate chances. Lately it is almost consistently that we fail to convert our chances and the ones we allow find the net.”