Slot Provides No Excuses and Vows to Find Route From Malaise

Liverpool's head coach stated he had to “examine my own performance” following the Reds suffered a 6th defeat in 7 Premier League games on their own turf to Nottingham Forest and insisted he would find a solution out of the title holders' slump.

Forest, fighting against the drop prior to the match, delivered the largest victory at Anfield in their club records as Liverpool fell to an 8th loss in eleven matches in every tournament. The British record signing, Alexander Isak, was once more unnoticeable and Liverpool argued Murillo’s opener should have been ruled out for similar reasons to the captain's chalked-off goal versus City before the international break. But Slot admitted the responsibility rested with him and made no excuses.

“Nobody wishes to listen to me now speaking about refereeing decisions if you lose 3-0 in your own stadium to Nottingham Forest,” said the Reds' boss. “I should look at myself first and my squad, but it does show you how a goal can alter the flow of a match. Before I was just waiting for us to net a goal. Later we barely created anything.

“Of course there is a path forward, especially with the talented players we have. No matter if you triumph or are beaten when you reflect you are always considering: ‘Where can we improve, in what aspects can we adjust?’ but that is different from questioning your abilities.

“I want to stress I am accountable for the current defeats. You are responsible when you are victorious but also liable when you are defeated. I can never come up with sufficient reasons for us to have the results we have. That is not acceptable and I am responsible for that.”

Liverpool’s performance unravelled as the coach made multiple offensive substitutions when chasing the match. “It was the same away at Nottingham Forest the previous campaign,” he said. “I substituted the French defender out and put on the Portuguese forward and he scored immediately to make it 1-1. At that time it was brave, currently it’s probably unwise.”

The Anfield side last lost back-to-back home league games against Forest in 1963. The most recent occasion they lost back-to-back top-flight games by a 3-0 scoreline was in the mid-60s.

The manager said: “It was extremely poor. Competing on home soil, losing 3-0 regardless of which opponent you face is a very, very bad result. Unexpected if you look at the opening 30 minutes of the game. I haven’t seen us creating so many chances in the initial half-hour perhaps the whole campaign, and the initial occasion they entered in our box they scored.

“It did not happen at City, but in all other fixture we have been the controlling team and were able to generate opportunities. Recently it is nearly constantly that we fail to convert our chances and the ones we concede go in.”

Angela Munoz
Angela Munoz

A passionate gamer and tech writer with over a decade of experience covering esports and game development trends.