Liverpool's Manager Offers No Excuses and Vows to Find Route From Slump
Liverpool's head coach declared he had to “examine my own performance” following Liverpool endured a sixth defeat in 7 English top-flight games on their own turf to Forest and affirmed he would discover a way from the champions’ slump.
Forest, fighting against the drop before kick off, produced the largest win at Anfield in their club records as the Merseyside club slipped to an 8th defeat in eleven fixtures in every tournament. The most expensive domestic acquisition, the Swedish striker, was once more anonymous and Liverpool argued Murillo’s opener should have been disallowed for comparable grounds to Virgil van Dijk’s chalked-off goal against Manchester City prior to the international break. But the manager conceded the responsibility rested with him and offered no alibis.
“Nobody wants to listen to me now talking about refereeing decisions if you lose 3-0 in your own stadium to Nottingham Forest,” said the Reds' boss. “I ought to look at my own role 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 score a strike. Later we barely created any chances.
“Naturally there is a path forward, especially with the talented footballers we have. No matter if you triumph or are beaten when you reflect you are always considering: ‘In which areas can we improve, in what aspects can we adjust?’ but that is something else from questioning yourself.
“I want to emphasise I am responsible for the current defeats. You are answerable when you are victorious but also responsible when you are defeated. I can never come up with sufficient reasons for us to have the outcomes we have. That is not acceptable and I am responsible for that.”
Liverpool’s performance unravelled as Slot introduced multiple offensive changes when chasing the match. “It was the same on the road at Nottingham Forest last season,” he said. “I substituted Ibou [Ibrahima Konaté] off and put on the Portuguese forward and he found the net immediately to make it 1-1. At that time it was brave, now it’s probably unwise.”
The Anfield side previously were defeated in back-to-back home league games by Nottingham Forest in 1963. The last time they suffered back-to-back league games by a 3-0 margin was in 1965.
Slot commented: “It was extremely poor. Playing at home, conceding 3-0 regardless of which team you face is a terrible result. 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 campaign, and the first time they arrived in our box they found the back of the net.
“It did not happen against Manchester City, but in all other fixture we have been the dominant side and were capable to create opportunities. Recently it is almost constantly that we miss our chances and the attempts we concede go in.”