Slot Offers No Excuses and Vows to Find Way Out of Slump

Arne Slot declared he had to “examine my own performance” after Liverpool suffered a sixth loss in 7 English top-flight games on their own turf to Forest and affirmed he would find a solution out of the title holders' poor run.

Nottingham Forest, fighting against the drop prior to the match, delivered the biggest win at Liverpool's stadium in their club records as the Merseyside club fell to an eighth defeat in 11 matches in every tournament. The British record signing, the Swedish striker, was again unnoticeable and Liverpool argued Murillo’s opener ought to have been disallowed for similar reasons to Virgil van Dijk’s chalked-off goal against City prior to the international break. But the manager admitted the buck rested with him and made no excuses.

“No one wants to listen to me now talking about officiating calls if you lose 3-0 at home to Nottingham Forest,” said the Liverpool head coach. “I should examine my own role initially and my team, but it does show you how a goal can change the momentum of a game. Earlier I was just waiting for us to net a goal. Later we barely created any chances.

“Naturally there is a way out, especially with the quality players we have. Regardless if you win or are beaten when you reflect you are always thinking: ‘In which areas can we improve, in what aspects can we make changes?’ but that is something else from doubting yourself.

“I want to emphasise I am responsible for the current defeats. You are answerable when you are winning but also liable when you are losing. I can never come up with sufficient excuses for us to have the outcomes we have. That is far from acceptable and I am responsible for that.”

The team's display fell apart as Slot made several attacking substitutions when chasing the match. “It was the identical away at Nottingham Forest last season,” he said. “I substituted the French defender out and put on [Diogo] Jota and he scored straight away to make it 1-1. Then it was brave, now it’s likely unwise.”

Liverpool previously were defeated in two successive home Premier League fixtures against Nottingham Forest in the sixties. The most recent occasion they suffered back-to-back top-flight games by a three-goal margin was in the mid-60s.

Slot commented: “It was extremely poor. Competing on home soil, conceding 3-0 no matter which opponent you encounter is a very, very bad outcome. Surprising if you consider the opening 30 minutes of the game. I haven’t seen us producing so many chances in the initial half-hour maybe the whole campaign, and the first time they arrived in our penalty area they found the back of the net.

“It wasn’t at City, but in all other game we have been the controlling team and were capable to generate chances. Recently it is almost constantly that we miss our opportunities and the ones we concede go in.”