Slot Provides Zero Justifications and Pledges to Plot Way Out of Malaise

Arne Slot declared he had to “look at myself” following Liverpool endured a 6th loss in 7 English top-flight games on their own turf against Nottingham Forest and affirmed he would find a way out of the champions’ poor run.

Forest, fighting against the drop before kick off, produced the largest win at Liverpool's stadium in their club records as the Merseyside club slipped to an 8th defeat in 11 fixtures in all competitions. The most expensive domestic acquisition, Alexander Isak, was again unnoticeable and the home side argued Murillo’s first goal ought to have been ruled out for similar reasons to the captain's disallowed effort against Manchester City before the international break. But Slot admitted the buck rested with him and offered no alibis.

“No one wishes to listen to me now talking about refereeing decisions if you lose 3-0 at home to Nottingham Forest,” stated the Reds' boss. “I should examine myself initially and my squad, but it does show you how a goal can change the momentum of a match. Before I was just hoping for us to net a strike. Afterwards we barely generated anything.

“Naturally there is a way out, particularly with the talented footballers we have. Regardless if you triumph or lose when you reflect you are always considering: ‘Where can we improve, where can we make changes?’ but that is different from questioning your abilities.

“I want to stress I am responsible for the current defeats. You are answerable when you are victorious but also liable when you are defeated. I can not come up with enough excuses for us to have the outcomes we have. That is far from good enough and I am responsible for that.”

The team's performance unravelled as the coach introduced multiple offensive substitutions when chasing the match. “It was the same away at Nottingham Forest the previous campaign,” he remarked. “I substituted the French defender off and brought on the Portuguese forward and he found the net straight away to make it 1-1. At that time it was brave, now it’s probably unwise.”

The Anfield side previously were defeated in two successive at Anfield league games against Nottingham Forest in the sixties. The last time they suffered consecutive league games by a three-goal margin was in 1965.

Slot said: “It was extremely poor. Playing on home soil, losing 3-0 regardless of which team you encounter is a very, very bad outcome. Unexpected if you look at the first half-hour of the game. I haven’t seen us producing so many chances in the initial 30 minutes maybe the whole campaign, and the initial occasion they arrived in our penalty area they scored.

“It wasn’t at City, but in all other fixture we have been the controlling team and were able to create chances. Recently it is nearly constantly that we fail to convert our chances and the attempts we allow find the net.”