Slot Offers Zero Justifications and Pledges to Find Route From Slump
Arne Slot declared he needed to “examine my own performance” following Liverpool endured a sixth loss in seven English top-flight matches on their own turf against Forest and affirmed he would discover a solution from the champions’ slump.
Forest, fighting against the drop prior to the match, delivered the largest win at Anfield in their club records as Liverpool fell to an 8th defeat in 11 fixtures in all competitions. The most expensive domestic acquisition, the Swedish striker, was again unnoticeable and the home side argued the defender's first goal should have been disallowed for comparable grounds to Virgil van Dijk’s chalked-off goal against City prior to the national team pause. But the manager admitted the buck stopped with him and offered no alibis.
“Nobody wants to hear me now talking about refereeing decisions if you lose 3-0 at home to Forest,” said the Reds' boss. “I should look at myself first and my squad, but it does show you how a score can alter the flow of a game. Before I was just hoping for us to score a strike. Later we hardly created anything.
“Of course there is a way out, especially with the talented players we have. Regardless if you triumph or are beaten when you reflect you are always considering: ‘Where can we do better, where can we make changes?’ but that is something else from questioning yourself.
“I wish to stress I am accountable for the present defeats. You are answerable when you are victorious but also liable when you are losing. I can not come up with enough excuses for us to have the results we have. That is not acceptable and I am to blame for that.”
Liverpool’s display unravelled as Slot made several attacking changes when pursuing the game. “It was the identical away at Forest last season,” he said. “I substituted the French defender out and put on [Diogo] Jota and he found the net straight away to make it 1-1. Then it was courageous, now it’s likely unwise.”
The Anfield side previously were defeated in two successive at Anfield league fixtures by Nottingham Forest in 1963. The last time they suffered consecutive top-flight games by a 3-0 scoreline was in the mid-60s.
The manager said: “It was extremely poor. Competing on home soil, losing 3-0 no matter which opponent you face is a terrible result. Surprising if you look at the first half-hour of the game. I haven’t seen us creating so much in the opening half-hour maybe the whole season, and the first time they entered in our penalty area they found the back of the net.
“It did not happen against Manchester City, but in every other game we have been the controlling side and were able to generate opportunities. Lately it is nearly consistently that we miss our chances and the attempts we concede go in.”