Liverpool's Manager Offers No Excuses and Pledges to Plot Way Out of Slump

Arne Slot stated he needed to “examine my own performance” following Liverpool endured a 6th loss in seven Premier League matches at home against Nottingham Forest and insisted he would find a solution from the title holders' slump.

Nottingham Forest, in the relegation zone before kick off, produced the largest win at Liverpool's stadium in their history as Liverpool fell to an 8th loss in eleven matches in all competitions. The British record signing, the Swedish striker, was again unnoticeable and the home side argued the defender's opener ought to have been ruled out for similar reasons to Virgil van Dijk’s disallowed effort against Manchester City before the national team pause. But the manager conceded the responsibility rested with him and offered no alibis.

“No one wants to listen to me now speaking about officiating calls if you lose 3-0 in your own stadium to Forest,” said the Liverpool head coach. “I should examine myself initially and my squad, but it does show you how a goal can change the flow of a game. Earlier I was just waiting for us to score a strike. Afterwards we hardly generated any chances.

“Of course there is a path forward, especially with the talented footballers we have. No matter if you win or are beaten when you reflect you are always thinking: ‘In which areas can we do better, where can we make changes?’ but that is different from questioning yourself.

“I wish to stress I am responsible for the present defeats. You are responsible when you are victorious but also responsible when you are defeated. I can never come up with enough reasons for us to have the results we have. That is far from good enough and I am to blame for that.”

Liverpool’s performance fell apart as the coach made several attacking substitutions when chasing the match. “It was the same away at Forest last season,” he said. “I took Ibou [Ibrahima Konaté] out and brought on [Diogo] Jota and he scored straight away to equalize at 1-1. At that time it was courageous, currently it’s probably stupid.”

Liverpool previously were defeated in back-to-back at Anfield league games by Nottingham Forest in the sixties. The most recent occasion they suffered consecutive league matches by a 3-0 margin was in the mid-60s.

The manager commented: “It was very bad. Competing at home, losing 3-0 no matter which team you face is a very, very bad result. Unexpected if you look at the first half-hour of the game. I haven’t seen us creating so much in the initial half-hour perhaps the whole campaign, and the first time they arrived in our penalty area they scored.

“It wasn’t at City, but in all other fixture we have been the dominant team and were capable to create opportunities. Lately it is nearly consistently that we miss our chances and the ones we concede find the net.”

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