Slot Offers Zero Justifications and Vows to Find Way Out of Malaise

Liverpool's head coach stated he had to “examine my own performance” following Liverpool endured a 6th defeat in seven Premier League matches on their own turf to Forest and insisted he would discover a way from the champions’ slump.

Forest, fighting against the drop prior to the match, delivered the biggest victory at Liverpool's stadium in their history as Liverpool slipped to an 8th defeat in 11 matches in every tournament. The most expensive domestic acquisition, the Swedish striker, was again anonymous and Liverpool contended Murillo’s first goal ought to have been disallowed for similar reasons to the captain's chalked-off goal versus Manchester City prior to the international break. But Slot conceded the buck rested with him and offered no alibis.

“Nobody wants to hear me now speaking about refereeing decisions if you lose 3-0 at home to Forest,” said the Reds' boss. “I should examine myself first and my squad, but it demonstrates you how a goal can change the flow of a game. Before I was just hoping for us to score a strike. Afterwards we hardly generated any chances.

“Of course there is a path forward, particularly 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 do better, in what aspects can we adjust?’ but that is something else from questioning your abilities.

“I wish to stress I am accountable for the present losses. You are answerable when you are victorious but also liable when you are losing. I can never provide enough reasons for us to have the results we have. That is not good enough and I am to blame for that.”

Liverpool’s display fell apart as Slot introduced several offensive changes when pursuing the match. “It was the identical away at Forest the previous campaign,” he remarked. “I substituted Ibou [Ibrahima Konaté] off and brought on the Portuguese forward and he scored immediately to equalize at 1-1. At that time it was brave, now it’s probably unwise.”

The Anfield side last lost two successive home Premier League games against Nottingham Forest in the sixties. The most recent occasion they lost back-to-back top-flight games by a 3-0 scoreline was in 1965.

Slot commented: “It was extremely poor. Competing on home soil, losing 3-0 no matter which team you face is a terrible result. Unexpected if you look at the opening 30 minutes of the game. I haven’t seen us creating so many chances in the initial half-hour maybe the entire season, and the first time they arrived in our box they scored.

“It wasn’t against Manchester City, but in every other fixture we have been the dominant team and were able to generate chances. Lately it is almost constantly that we miss our chances and the attempts we allow find the net.”