Liverpool's Manager Offers No Excuses and Vows to Plot Way From Slump

Arne Slot declared he had to “examine my own performance” after the Reds suffered a 6th defeat in 7 English top-flight games on their own turf against Nottingham Forest and insisted he would discover a way from the title holders' slump.

Nottingham Forest, in the relegation zone prior to the match, delivered the largest victory at Anfield in their history as Liverpool fell to an 8th defeat in eleven fixtures in every tournament. The most expensive domestic acquisition, the Swedish striker, was once more anonymous and the home side contended Murillo’s opener should have been disallowed for similar reasons to the captain's chalked-off goal versus City before the international break. But the manager admitted the buck stopped with him and offered no alibis.

“No one wishes to hear me now speaking about officiating calls if you lose 3-0 at home to Nottingham Forest,” said the Reds' boss. “I should examine myself initially and my squad, but it demonstrates you how a goal can change the flow of a game. Before I was just hoping for us to net a strike. Later we hardly generated any chances.

“Naturally there is a path forward, particularly with the talented footballers we have. Regardless if you win or lose when you reflect you are always considering: ‘Where can we improve, where can we adjust?’ but that is something else from questioning yourself.

“I want to stress I am accountable for the current defeats. You are answerable when you are victorious but also responsible when you are losing. I can not come up with sufficient excuses for us to have the results we have. That is not good enough and I am to blame for that.”

Liverpool’s display fell apart as Slot made several offensive substitutions when pursuing the game. “It was the same on the road at Nottingham Forest the previous campaign,” he said. “I took Ibou [Ibrahima Konaté] out and brought on the Portuguese forward and he found the net straight away to make it 1-1. Then it was courageous, currently it’s likely unwise.”

Liverpool previously were defeated in back-to-back at Anfield league fixtures by Nottingham Forest in 1963. The last time they lost consecutive top-flight matches by a 3-0 margin was in the mid-60s.

Slot commented: “It was very bad. Playing on home soil, conceding 3-0 no matter which team you face is a very, very bad result. Surprising if you look at the opening 30 minutes of the game. I haven’t seen us creating so many chances in the opening 30 minutes perhaps the entire season, and the first time they entered in our penalty area they scored.

“It did not happen at City, but in all other game we have been the controlling team and were capable to create opportunities. Lately it is almost consistently that we miss our opportunities and the ones we allow find the net.”