Slot Provides Zero Justifications and Pledges to Find Way From Slump
Liverpool's head coach stated he had to “look at myself” after the Reds suffered a sixth defeat in seven English top-flight matches on their own turf to Forest and affirmed he would discover a solution from the champions’ poor run.
Nottingham Forest, in the relegation zone before kick off, produced the biggest victory at Anfield in their club records as the Merseyside club fell to an eighth loss in eleven matches in every tournament. The most expensive domestic acquisition, Alexander Isak, was again anonymous and Liverpool contended Murillo’s first goal should have been disallowed for similar reasons to the captain's chalked-off goal versus Manchester City prior to the international break. But the manager admitted the responsibility stopped with him and made no excuses.
“No one wants to hear me now talking about refereeing decisions if you are defeated 3-0 in your own stadium to Nottingham Forest,” said the Liverpool head coach. “I should examine myself first and my team, but it does show you how a score can alter the flow of a game. Before I was just waiting for us to score a strike. Afterwards we barely created anything.
“Of course there is a path forward, especially with the talented players we have. Regardless if you win or lose when you reflect you are always thinking: ‘Where can we improve, where can we make changes?’ but that is something else from doubting your abilities.
“I want to stress I am accountable for the present defeats. You are responsible when you are victorious but also responsible when you are losing. I can not provide enough reasons for us to have the results we have. That is not good enough and I am responsible for that.”
The team's display unravelled as Slot introduced multiple offensive substitutions when pursuing the match. “It was the same away at Nottingham Forest last season,” he said. “I took the French defender out and brought on [Diogo] Jota and he scored straight away to make it 1-1. Then it was brave, now it’s likely stupid.”
The Anfield side last lost back-to-back at Anfield Premier League fixtures by Nottingham Forest in 1963. The most recent occasion they lost consecutive league matches by a 3-0 scoreline was in 1965.
Slot said: “It was extremely poor. Playing at home, conceding 3-0 regardless of which opponent you encounter is a very, very bad outcome. Unexpected if you look at the opening 30 minutes of the game. I haven’t seen us creating so much in the initial 30 minutes perhaps 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 game we have been the controlling side and were able to create opportunities. Recently it is nearly constantly that we fail to convert our opportunities and the attempts we allow find the net.”