Slot Offers No Excuses and Pledges to Plot Way From Slump

Liverpool's head coach declared he needed to “look at myself” following Liverpool endured a 6th defeat in seven Premier League games on their own turf to Forest and affirmed he would find a solution out of the champions’ slump.

Nottingham Forest, in the relegation zone prior to the match, delivered the largest win at Liverpool's stadium in their history 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 the home side argued Murillo’s first goal ought to have been ruled out for similar reasons to Virgil van Dijk’s chalked-off goal versus City before the international break. But the manager admitted the responsibility stopped with him and made no excuses.

“Nobody wants to hear me now talking about officiating calls if you are defeated 3-0 in your own stadium to Forest,” said the Reds' boss. “I should examine my own role initially and my team, but it demonstrates you how a score can alter the momentum of a match. Before I was just waiting for us to net a goal. Afterwards we barely created anything.

“Of course there is a path forward, particularly with the talented footballers we have. Regardless if you win or are beaten when you look back you are always thinking: ‘In which areas can we improve, in what aspects can we make changes?’ but that is something else from doubting your abilities.

“I want to emphasise I am accountable for the present defeats. You are responsible when you are winning but also responsible when you are defeated. I can not come up with sufficient excuses for us to have the outcomes we have. That is far from good enough and I am responsible for that.”

The team's performance fell apart as Slot introduced several attacking changes when pursuing the match. “It was the same on the road at Forest last season,” he said. “I substituted Ibou [Ibrahima Konaté] out and brought on the Portuguese forward and he scored immediately to make it 1-1. Then it was brave, currently it’s probably unwise.”

The Anfield side previously were defeated in back-to-back at Anfield Premier League fixtures against Forest in 1963. The most recent occasion they lost consecutive top-flight games by a three-goal scoreline was in 1965.

Slot commented: “It was extremely poor. Competing at home, conceding 3-0 regardless of which team you face is a very, very bad result. Surprising if you consider the first half-hour of the game. I haven’t seen us creating so much in the initial half-hour maybe the entire campaign, and the first time they arrived in our box they scored.

“It did not happen against Manchester City, but in every other fixture we have been the dominant team and were capable to create opportunities. Lately it is nearly constantly that we fail to convert our opportunities and the ones we concede go in.”