Liverpool's Manager Offers Zero Justifications and Pledges to Plot Way Out of Malaise

Arne Slot stated he had to “look at myself” following Liverpool suffered a sixth loss in seven Premier League games at home to Nottingham Forest and insisted he would find a way from the title holders' slump.

Forest, fighting against the drop prior to the match, produced the biggest victory at Anfield in their history as the Merseyside club fell to an eighth defeat in eleven matches in every tournament. The most expensive domestic acquisition, Alexander Isak, was again unnoticeable and the home side argued Murillo’s opener ought to have been ruled out for similar reasons to Virgil van Dijk’s disallowed effort against City prior to the national team pause. But the manager admitted the buck stopped with him and offered no alibis.

“Nobody wishes to hear me now talking about officiating calls if you are defeated 3-0 at home to Forest,” stated the Reds' boss. “I should examine myself first and my team, but it demonstrates you how a score can change the flow of a match. Earlier I was just hoping for us to score a goal. Afterwards we barely created anything.

“Of course there is a path forward, especially with the quality players we have. Regardless if you win or are beaten when you look back you are always thinking: ‘Where can we improve, where can we make changes?’ but that is something else from doubting your abilities.

“I wish to emphasise I am accountable for the present losses. You are answerable when you are victorious but also liable when you are losing. I can not come up with sufficient reasons for us to have the outcomes we have. That is far from acceptable and I am responsible for that.”

Liverpool’s performance unravelled as the coach introduced multiple attacking substitutions when chasing the game. “It was the identical on the road at Forest the previous campaign,” he said. “I substituted Ibou [Ibrahima Konaté] out and put on the Portuguese forward and he scored immediately to equalize at 1-1. Then it was brave, currently it’s probably unwise.”

Liverpool previously were defeated in back-to-back at Anfield league games against Forest in the sixties. The last time they suffered consecutive top-flight games by a 3-0 margin was in 1965.

The manager commented: “It was extremely poor. Playing at home, conceding 3-0 regardless of which team you encounter is a very, very bad outcome. Unexpected if you look at the first half-hour of the game. I haven’t seen us creating so many chances in the opening 30 minutes perhaps the whole season, and the first time they arrived in our box they found the back of the net.

“It wasn’t against Manchester City, but in every other game we have been the dominant side and were able to create opportunities. Recently it is almost constantly that we miss our chances and the ones we concede go in.”