Slot Offers No Excuses and Vows to Plot Route Out of Malaise

Arne Slot stated he had to “look at myself” following the Reds suffered a sixth defeat in seven Premier League matches at home against Nottingham Forest and insisted 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 history as the Merseyside club slipped to an eighth loss in eleven fixtures in every tournament. The British record signing, the Swedish striker, was again anonymous and Liverpool contended Murillo’s opener ought to have been ruled out for comparable grounds to the captain's disallowed effort against City before the international break. But Slot conceded the responsibility stopped with him and made no excuses.

“Nobody wants to listen to me now talking about officiating calls if you lose 3-0 at home to Forest,” stated the Liverpool head coach. “I ought to look at my own role first and my team, but it does show you how a goal can change the flow of a game. Earlier I was just waiting for us to net a goal. Afterwards we hardly created anything.

“Naturally there is a way out, especially with the talented players we have. No matter if you win or are beaten when you look back you are always thinking: ‘In which areas can we improve, in what aspects can we make changes?’ but that is something else from questioning yourself.

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

The team's display fell apart as the coach made several attacking changes when chasing the game. “It was the identical on the road at Forest last season,” he remarked. “I took the French defender out and brought on the Portuguese forward and he found the net immediately to equalize at 1-1. Then it was courageous, currently it’s probably stupid.”

The Anfield side previously were defeated in back-to-back home league games by Nottingham Forest in 1963. The last time they lost consecutive league matches by a three-goal scoreline was in 1965.

Slot said: “It was very bad. Playing at home, conceding 3-0 no matter which opponent you face is a terrible result. Surprising if you consider the first half-hour of the game. I haven’t seen us creating so much in the initial 30 minutes perhaps the entire season, 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 able to create opportunities. Lately it is almost consistently that we fail to convert our opportunities and the ones we concede go in.”