Liverpool's Manager Provides No Excuses and Pledges to Find Route From Slump

Liverpool's head coach declared he needed to “look at myself” after Liverpool endured a 6th defeat in seven Premier League matches at home to Forest and affirmed he would discover a solution out of the champions’ slump.

Forest, fighting against the drop prior to the match, produced the biggest victory at Anfield in their club records as Liverpool slipped to an 8th loss in 11 fixtures in all competitions. The British record signing, Alexander Isak, was again unnoticeable and the home side contended the defender's first goal should have been disallowed for similar reasons to the captain's chalked-off goal against City prior to the national team pause. But Slot conceded the responsibility rested with him and offered no alibis.

“No one wants to hear me now speaking about refereeing decisions if you lose 3-0 at home to Nottingham Forest,” said the Reds' boss. “I should examine myself initially and my squad, but it does show you how a score can alter the momentum of a match. Earlier I was just hoping for us to score a goal. Later we hardly created anything.

“Of course there is a way out, especially with the quality players we have. No matter if you win or lose when you reflect you are always thinking: ‘Where can we improve, where can we make changes?’ but that is something else from doubting your abilities.

“I want to stress I am responsible for the current defeats. You are responsible when you are winning but also liable when you are losing. I can never come up with sufficient excuses for us to have the results we have. That is far from acceptable and I am responsible for that.”

The team's display unravelled as Slot made several offensive changes when pursuing the match. “It was the same away at Nottingham Forest last season,” he said. “I took Ibou [Ibrahima Konaté] 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 two successive at Anfield league games against Forest in 1963. The most recent occasion they lost consecutive top-flight matches by a 3-0 margin was in the mid-60s.

Slot commented: “It was very bad. Competing on home soil, conceding 3-0 no matter which opponent you encounter is a very, very bad outcome. Surprising if you look at the opening 30 minutes of the game. I did not witness us creating so much in the initial half-hour perhaps the entire season, and the first time they arrived in our box they found the back of the net.

“It wasn’t at City, but in every other game we have been the controlling side and were able to create opportunities. Lately it is nearly consistently that we miss our opportunities and the ones we concede find the net.”