Liverpool's Manager Provides No Excuses and Pledges to Find Route From Malaise

Arne Slot declared he had to “examine my own performance” following Liverpool suffered a sixth defeat in seven Premier League games at home to Forest and insisted he would find a way out of the champions’ slump.

Forest, in the relegation zone prior to the match, produced the biggest win at Anfield in their history as the Merseyside club fell to an 8th loss in eleven fixtures in all competitions. The most expensive domestic acquisition, the Swedish striker, was once more unnoticeable and the home side contended Murillo’s opener should have been disallowed for comparable grounds to the captain's chalked-off goal versus City prior to the international break. But the manager admitted the responsibility stopped with him and offered no alibis.

“Nobody wants to hear me now talking about officiating calls if you lose 3-0 in your own stadium to Forest,” stated the Reds' boss. “I should look at myself first and my squad, but it does show you how a goal can change the flow of a match. Before I was just hoping for us to net a goal. Afterwards we barely created anything.

“Naturally there is a way out, especially with the talented footballers we have. Regardless if you win or are beaten when you reflect you are always considering: ‘In which areas can we improve, where can we adjust?’ but that is something else from questioning your abilities.

“I wish to emphasise I am responsible for the present losses. You are responsible when you are winning but also responsible when you are losing. I can not provide enough reasons for us to have the results we have. That is far from acceptable and I am to blame for that.”

Liverpool’s display fell apart as the coach introduced several attacking substitutions when pursuing the match. “It was the identical on the road at Nottingham Forest the previous campaign,” he remarked. “I substituted the French defender out and brought on the Portuguese forward and he scored immediately to make it 1-1. Then it was brave, currently it’s likely unwise.”

Liverpool previously were defeated in two successive at Anfield league fixtures by Nottingham Forest in 1963. The most recent occasion they suffered consecutive league games by a 3-0 margin was in 1965.

The manager said: “It was very bad. Playing on home soil, conceding 3-0 regardless of which opponent you encounter is a terrible result. Unexpected if you look at the opening 30 minutes of the match. I did not witness us creating so many chances in the opening 30 minutes maybe the whole campaign, and the first time they arrived in our penalty area they found the back of the net.

“It did not happen against Manchester City, but in all other fixture we have been the controlling side and were capable to create chances. Lately it is nearly consistently that we fail to convert our opportunities and the attempts we concede find the net.”