Arne Slot stated he had to “examine my own performance” after the Reds suffered a sixth defeat in seven English top-flight matches on their own turf to Nottingham Forest and affirmed he would find a solution out of the champions’ slump.
Nottingham Forest, in the relegation zone before kick off, produced the largest victory at Liverpool's stadium in their history as Liverpool fell to an eighth defeat in 11 matches in every tournament. The British record signing, the Swedish striker, was again anonymous and the home side contended Murillo’s first goal ought to have been disallowed for similar reasons to the captain's disallowed effort versus City before the national team pause. But the manager admitted the responsibility stopped with him and offered no alibis.
“Nobody wants to listen to me now speaking about refereeing decisions if you are defeated 3-0 at home to Forest,” stated the Liverpool head coach. “I should look at my own role initially and my team, but it demonstrates you how a score can alter the flow of a match. Before I was just hoping for us to score a strike. Later we hardly created any chances.
“Of course there is a path forward, particularly with the quality players we have. Regardless if you triumph or are beaten when you look back you are always considering: ‘Where can we improve, in what aspects can we adjust?’ but that is something else from questioning your abilities.
“I want to stress I am responsible for the present defeats. You are responsible when you are winning but also liable when you are defeated. I can never come up with enough reasons for us to have the outcomes we have. That is far from acceptable and I am responsible 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 remarked. “I substituted the French defender off and brought on the Portuguese forward and he scored immediately to equalize at 1-1. At that time it was courageous, currently it’s probably unwise.”
The Anfield side previously were defeated in two successive home Premier League games by Forest in the sixties. The most recent occasion they suffered back-to-back top-flight games by a three-goal scoreline was in the mid-60s.
The manager commented: “It was extremely poor. Competing at home, conceding 3-0 regardless of which team you face is a terrible result. Unexpected if you look at the first half-hour of the match. I did not witness us producing so many chances in the opening 30 minutes maybe the entire campaign, and the first time they arrived in our box they found the back of the net.
“It did not happen at City, but in every other game we have been the controlling team and were able to create opportunities. Lately it is nearly consistently that we fail to convert our opportunities and the attempts we allow find the net.”
