Slot Offers No Excuses and Pledges to Plot Way Out of Slump

Liverpool's head coach declared he had to “examine my own performance” following Liverpool endured a 6th defeat in seven English top-flight matches on their own turf against Nottingham Forest and affirmed he would find a way out of the title holders' poor run.

Forest, in the relegation zone prior to the match, produced the biggest win at Liverpool's stadium in their club records as Liverpool slipped to an eighth loss in eleven fixtures in every tournament. The British record signing, the Swedish striker, was once more unnoticeable and Liverpool argued Murillo’s opener should have been ruled out for comparable grounds to the captain's disallowed effort against Manchester City prior to the national team pause. But Slot admitted the responsibility rested with him and offered no alibis.

“Nobody wishes to listen to me now speaking about refereeing decisions 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 does show you how a score can alter the flow of a game. Before I was just waiting for us to net a goal. Afterwards we barely generated anything.

“Naturally there is a path forward, especially with the talented footballers we have. No matter if you triumph or are beaten when you look back you are always thinking: ‘Where can we improve, in what aspects can we adjust?’ but that is something else from questioning your abilities.

“I wish to emphasise I am responsible for the current losses. You are responsible when you are victorious but also responsible when you are defeated. I can never 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 performance fell apart as Slot introduced several attacking substitutions when chasing the game. “It was the same on the road at Nottingham Forest last season,” he remarked. “I took Ibou [Ibrahima Konaté] off and brought on [Diogo] Jota and he found the net immediately to equalize at 1-1. Then it was courageous, currently it’s probably unwise.”

The Anfield side previously were defeated in back-to-back at Anfield Premier League fixtures by Forest in the sixties. The most recent occasion they suffered consecutive top-flight games by a 3-0 margin was in 1965.

Slot said: “It was very bad. Competing at home, losing 3-0 regardless of which team you encounter is a terrible result. Surprising if you look at the opening 30 minutes of the match. I did not witness us producing so much in the initial 30 minutes perhaps the whole season, and the initial occasion 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 opportunities. Lately it is almost consistently that we miss our chances and the ones we concede find the net.”