Slot Offers Zero Justifications and Vows to Find Way From Malaise

Liverpool's head coach stated he had to “examine my own performance” after the Reds endured a sixth defeat in seven English top-flight games at home against Forest and insisted he would find a solution out of the title holders' poor run.

Nottingham Forest, fighting against the drop before kick off, delivered the largest win at Liverpool's stadium in their history as Liverpool slipped to an 8th defeat in 11 fixtures in every tournament. The British record signing, the Swedish striker, was again anonymous and Liverpool contended Murillo’s first goal ought to have been ruled out for similar reasons to the captain's chalked-off goal versus City before the national team pause. But the manager admitted the responsibility rested with him and offered no alibis.

“Nobody wants to listen to me now talking about officiating calls if you are defeated 3-0 at home to Forest,” said the Reds' boss. “I should examine myself initially and my team, but it does show you how a score can alter the flow of a game. Before I was just hoping for us to net a strike. Later we hardly generated anything.

“Naturally there is a path forward, particularly with the quality footballers we have. No matter if you win or lose when you reflect you are always considering: ‘Where can we improve, in what aspects can we adjust?’ but that is different from questioning yourself.

“I want to emphasise I am accountable for the current losses. You are responsible when you are winning but also liable 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 responsible for that.”

Liverpool’s display unravelled as Slot introduced several attacking substitutions when chasing the game. “It was the same on the road at Forest last season,” he said. “I substituted Ibou [Ibrahima Konaté] off and brought on [Diogo] Jota and he scored straight away to equalize at 1-1. At that time it was brave, now it’s likely unwise.”

Liverpool previously were defeated in two successive at Anfield Premier League fixtures against Forest in the sixties. The last time 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 at home, conceding 3-0 regardless of which opponent you face is a very, very bad outcome. Unexpected if you look at the opening 30 minutes of the game. I did not witness us creating so many chances in the initial half-hour maybe the whole campaign, and the first time they entered in our penalty area they found the back of the net.

“It wasn’t at City, but in every other fixture we have been the controlling team and were capable to generate chances. Lately it is almost constantly that we fail to convert our opportunities and the ones we allow find the net.”