Slot Offers Zero Justifications and Vows to Plot Route From Malaise

Arne Slot stated he needed to “examine my own performance” following Liverpool endured a 6th defeat in seven English top-flight matches at home to Forest and affirmed he would discover a solution out of the champions’ poor run.

Forest, fighting against the drop prior to the match, produced the largest win at Liverpool's stadium 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 contended the defender's first goal should have been ruled out for comparable grounds to Virgil van Dijk’s chalked-off goal versus Manchester City prior to the national team pause. But the manager admitted the buck rested with him and offered no alibis.

“Nobody wants to listen to me now talking about officiating calls 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 demonstrates you how a score can alter the momentum of a match. Earlier I was just waiting for us to net a strike. Afterwards we hardly generated any chances.

“Of course there is a path forward, particularly with the talented players we have. Regardless if you win or lose when you look back you are always thinking: ‘Where can we do better, where can we adjust?’ but that is something else from questioning your abilities.

“I wish to emphasise I am accountable for the present losses. You are answerable when you are winning but also liable when you are defeated. I can never come up with enough reasons for us to have the outcomes we have. That is far from acceptable and I am to blame for that.”

Liverpool’s performance unravelled as Slot made several attacking substitutions when pursuing the match. “It was the same away at Forest last season,” he said. “I took Ibou [Ibrahima Konaté] off and brought on [Diogo] Jota and he found the net straight away to equalize at 1-1. Then it was courageous, now it’s likely stupid.”

Liverpool last lost back-to-back home Premier League fixtures against Nottingham Forest in 1963. The most recent occasion they suffered consecutive top-flight matches by a three-goal scoreline was in the mid-60s.

Slot commented: “It was extremely poor. Playing at home, losing 3-0 regardless of which opponent you encounter is a terrible result. Unexpected if you consider the first half-hour of the match. I did not witness us creating so much in the initial half-hour perhaps the entire campaign, and the initial occasion they arrived in our box they scored.

“It wasn’t against Manchester City, but in every other fixture we have been the controlling side and were able to generate chances. Recently it is nearly consistently that we fail to convert our chances and the attempts we allow go in.”