Slot Offers No Excuses and Vows to Find Route From Slump
Arne Slot stated he needed to “examine my own performance” after the Reds endured a 6th defeat in seven English top-flight games at home against Forest and affirmed he would find a way out of the title holders' slump.
Nottingham Forest, fighting against the drop before kick off, delivered the largest victory at Liverpool's stadium in their history as the Merseyside club slipped to an eighth loss in 11 matches in all competitions. The most expensive domestic acquisition, Alexander Isak, was again anonymous and Liverpool contended Murillo’s opener ought to have been ruled out for comparable grounds to Virgil van Dijk’s disallowed effort against Manchester City prior to the national team pause. But the manager admitted the buck rested with him and offered no alibis.
“Nobody wishes to listen to me now speaking about refereeing decisions if you lose 3-0 at home to Forest,” stated the Liverpool head coach. “I should examine myself initially and my team, 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 hardly generated any chances.
“Of course there is a path forward, especially with the talented footballers we have. No matter if you win or lose when you reflect you are always thinking: ‘In which areas can we improve, where can we adjust?’ but that is something else from questioning your abilities.
“I wish to emphasise I am responsible for the present defeats. You are answerable when you are victorious but also liable when you are losing. I can not come up with enough excuses for us to have the results we have. That is not acceptable and I am to blame for that.”
Liverpool’s performance fell apart as the coach made multiple offensive substitutions when pursuing the game. “It was the same on the road at Forest last season,” he said. “I took the French defender out and brought on the Portuguese forward and he scored immediately to make it 1-1. At that time it was brave, now it’s likely stupid.”
Liverpool previously were defeated in two successive at Anfield league games by Forest in 1963. The most recent occasion they lost consecutive league matches by a 3-0 scoreline was in the mid-60s.
Slot said: “It was extremely poor. Playing at home, conceding 3-0 no matter which opponent you face is a very, very bad outcome. Unexpected if you consider the first half-hour of the match. I haven’t seen us creating so much in the initial 30 minutes maybe the whole season, and the initial occasion they entered in our penalty area they found the back of the net.
“It wasn’t against Manchester City, but in every other fixture we have been the controlling team and were able to generate chances. Lately it is almost constantly that we fail to convert our chances and the attempts we concede go in.”