🔗 Share this article

Liverpool's head coach stated he had to “examine my own performance” following Liverpool suffered a 6th defeat in seven English top-flight matches on their own turf against Nottingham Forest and affirmed he would discover a solution from the champions’ poor run.

Forest, in the relegation zone before kick off, produced the biggest win at Liverpool's stadium in their history as the Merseyside club fell to an eighth loss in 11 matches in every tournament. The British record signing, Alexander Isak, was once more anonymous and Liverpool argued Murillo’s opener should have been disallowed for similar reasons to the captain's chalked-off goal against City before the international break. But the manager conceded the buck stopped with him and made no excuses.

“No one wishes to listen to me now talking about officiating calls if you lose 3-0 at home to Nottingham Forest,” stated the Liverpool head coach. “I ought to look at myself first and my squad, but it does show you how a score can alter the momentum of a game. Earlier I was just hoping for us to net a strike. Later we barely created any chances.

“Of course there is a way out, especially with the talented players we have. No matter if you win 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 questioning your abilities.

“I want to emphasise I am responsible for the current losses. You are responsible when you are winning but also liable when you are losing. I can never come up with enough excuses for us to have the results we have. That is not acceptable and I am to blame for that.”

The team's performance unravelled as Slot introduced several offensive substitutions when pursuing the match. “It was the same on the road at Forest last season,” he remarked. “I substituted Ibou [Ibrahima Konaté] out and put on [Diogo] Jota and he scored immediately to equalize at 1-1. At that time it was brave, now it’s likely stupid.”

The Anfield side previously were defeated in two successive at Anfield Premier League games by Nottingham Forest in the sixties. The last time they suffered consecutive league matches by a three-goal margin was in the mid-60s.

The manager said: “It was extremely poor. Playing on home soil, losing 3-0 no matter which opponent you face is a very, very bad result. Unexpected if you consider the first half-hour of the game. I did not witness us producing so many chances in the opening half-hour perhaps the entire season, and the first time they arrived in our penalty area they found the back of the net.

“It wasn’t against Manchester City, but in every other game we have been the controlling side and were capable to generate opportunities. Recently it is nearly consistently that we fail to convert our chances and the ones we allow go in.”