Liverpool's Manager Offers Zero Justifications and Pledges to Find Route Out of Malaise

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

Forest, fighting against the drop prior to the match, produced the biggest win at Liverpool's stadium in their history as the Merseyside club fell to an 8th defeat in eleven matches in all competitions. The British record signing, the Swedish striker, was again unnoticeable and Liverpool contended the defender's first goal should have been disallowed for comparable grounds to Virgil van Dijk’s chalked-off goal versus Manchester City before the national team pause. But Slot conceded the buck rested with him and made no excuses.

“Nobody wishes 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 ought to examine my own role first and my squad, but it does show you how a score can alter the flow of a game. Before I was just waiting for us to net a goal. Afterwards we barely generated anything.

“Of course there is a path forward, especially with the talented players we have. No matter 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 different from questioning your abilities.

“I wish to stress I am accountable for the current losses. You are answerable when you are victorious but also liable when you are losing. I can not come up with sufficient reasons for us to have the outcomes we have. That is not acceptable and I am to blame for that.”

The team's display fell apart as Slot introduced several offensive substitutions when pursuing the game. “It was the same on the road at Forest the previous campaign,” he said. “I took Ibou [Ibrahima Konaté] out and brought on the Portuguese forward and he scored straight away to equalize at 1-1. At that time it was courageous, currently it’s probably unwise.”

The Anfield side last lost two successive home league games by Nottingham Forest in 1963. The last time they suffered consecutive league games by a 3-0 scoreline was in the mid-60s.

The manager commented: “It was very bad. Competing at home, conceding 3-0 no matter which opponent you encounter is a very, very bad outcome. Unexpected if you look at the opening 30 minutes of the game. I haven’t seen us creating so many chances in the opening 30 minutes perhaps the whole season, and the initial occasion they arrived in our box they scored.

“It did not happen at City, but in every other game we have been the controlling side and were capable to generate chances. Lately it is nearly constantly that we fail to convert our opportunities and the ones we concede go in.”