Slot Provides No Excuses and Pledges to Plot Route From Slump

Liverpool's head coach declared he needed to “look at myself” following Liverpool suffered a 6th defeat in seven Premier League matches at home to Forest and insisted he would find a way from the title holders' slump.

Nottingham Forest, fighting against the drop before kick off, produced the biggest win at Liverpool's stadium in their club records as the Merseyside club fell to an 8th loss in eleven matches in all competitions. The most expensive domestic acquisition, Alexander Isak, was once more anonymous and Liverpool contended Murillo’s first goal should have been ruled out for comparable grounds to Virgil van Dijk’s chalked-off goal against Manchester City before the international break. But Slot conceded the buck stopped with him and offered no alibis.

“No one wishes to hear me now speaking about refereeing decisions if you lose 3-0 at home to Forest,” said the Liverpool head coach. “I ought to examine myself initially and my team, but it does show you how a goal can change the momentum of a match. Before I was just hoping for us to score a goal. Later we barely created anything.

“Naturally there is a path forward, especially with the talented footballers we have. No matter if you triumph or lose when you look back you are always thinking: ‘In which areas can we improve, where can we make changes?’ but that is something else from doubting your abilities.

“I want to emphasise I am responsible for the present defeats. You are answerable when you are winning but also liable when you are losing. I can never provide enough reasons for us to have the results we have. That is far from good enough and I am responsible for that.”

The team's display fell apart as the coach introduced multiple offensive substitutions when chasing the match. “It was the same on the road at Forest the previous campaign,” he remarked. “I substituted Ibou [Ibrahima Konaté] out and put on [Diogo] Jota and he scored immediately to make it 1-1. Then it was courageous, now it’s likely unwise.”

The Anfield side last lost two successive home league games against Nottingham Forest in 1963. The last time they lost back-to-back top-flight matches by a 3-0 scoreline was in 1965.

The manager said: “It was very bad. Competing on home soil, conceding 3-0 no matter which team you encounter is a very, very bad outcome. Unexpected if you consider the first half-hour of the game. I did not witness us producing so much in the opening half-hour perhaps the entire campaign, and the first time they arrived in our box they found the back of the net.

“It wasn’t against Manchester City, but in all other fixture we have been the controlling side and were able to generate chances. Lately it is nearly constantly that we miss our chances and the attempts we concede go in.”

Deborah Miller
Deborah Miller

Maya is a tech journalist with over a decade of experience covering digital trends and innovations.