Slot Provides Zero Justifications and Vows to Find Route Out of Malaise

Arne Slot declared he needed to “examine my own performance” following Liverpool endured a 6th loss in seven English top-flight games on their own turf to Forest and affirmed he would discover a solution out of the champions’ slump.

Forest, fighting against the drop prior to the match, delivered the biggest victory at Anfield in their history as the Merseyside club slipped to an eighth loss in 11 fixtures in all competitions. The British record signing, the Swedish striker, was once more anonymous and the home side argued the defender's first goal should have been ruled out for similar reasons to the captain's chalked-off goal versus City before the national team pause. But the manager admitted the responsibility stopped with him and offered no alibis.

“Nobody wishes to listen to me now speaking about officiating calls if you are defeated 3-0 in your own stadium to Nottingham Forest,” said the Liverpool head coach. “I should look at myself first and my squad, but it does show you how a goal can alter the momentum of a match. Earlier I was just waiting for us to score a strike. Afterwards we barely created anything.

“Of course there is a path forward, particularly with the quality players we have. Regardless if you triumph or are beaten when you look back you are always considering: ‘Where can we do better, in what aspects can we adjust?’ but that is different from doubting yourself.

“I wish to stress I am accountable for the current defeats. You are responsible when you are winning but also responsible when you are losing. I can not provide sufficient reasons for us to have the results we have. That is far from good enough and I am responsible for that.”

The team's display fell apart as Slot introduced several offensive changes when pursuing the match. “It was the same away at Forest last season,” he said. “I substituted Ibou [Ibrahima Konaté] off and brought on [Diogo] Jota and he found the net immediately to equalize at 1-1. At that time it was courageous, now it’s probably unwise.”

Liverpool last lost back-to-back home Premier League fixtures against Nottingham Forest in the sixties. The most recent occasion they lost consecutive league games by a 3-0 margin was in the mid-60s.

The manager said: “It was extremely poor. Playing at home, losing 3-0 no matter which opponent you face is a very, very bad outcome. Unexpected if you look at the opening 30 minutes of the match. I haven’t seen us producing so much in the opening half-hour perhaps the entire campaign, and the initial occasion they entered in our box they found the back of the net.

“It did not happen against Manchester City, but in every other game we have been the dominant side and were capable to create opportunities. Lately it is almost constantly that we miss our opportunities and the ones we allow find the net.”