Slot Provides Zero Justifications and Pledges to Find Way Out of Slump
Liverpool's head coach declared he had to “examine my own performance” after Liverpool suffered a 6th defeat in seven English top-flight games at home to Forest and affirmed he would find a way out of the champions’ slump.
Nottingham Forest, fighting against the drop before kick off, produced the largest victory at Anfield in their history as the Merseyside club slipped to an 8th loss in 11 fixtures in every tournament. The British record signing, the Swedish striker, was once more anonymous and the home side contended Murillo’s first goal should have been ruled out for comparable grounds to Virgil van Dijk’s disallowed effort against Manchester City prior to the international break. But the manager conceded the buck rested with him and offered no alibis.
“Nobody wishes to listen to me now speaking about officiating calls if you lose 3-0 in your own stadium to Forest,” said the Reds' boss. “I should look at my own role initially and my team, but it demonstrates you how a goal can change the momentum of a match. Earlier I was just waiting for us to net a strike. Afterwards we hardly created anything.
“Naturally there is a path forward, especially with the quality footballers we have. No matter 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 different from doubting yourself.
“I want to stress I am responsible for the current defeats. You are answerable when you are winning but also liable when you are defeated. I can never provide sufficient reasons for us to have the outcomes we have. That is not acceptable and I am to blame for that.”
The team's performance fell apart as Slot made several attacking substitutions when chasing the game. “It was the identical away at Forest last season,” he remarked. “I took Ibou [Ibrahima Konaté] out and brought on the Portuguese forward and he found the net straight away to make it 1-1. Then it was courageous, now it’s probably stupid.”
Liverpool previously were defeated in back-to-back home league fixtures by Forest in 1963. The most recent occasion they lost back-to-back top-flight matches by a 3-0 margin was in 1965.
Slot said: “It was very bad. Competing at home, losing 3-0 regardless of which team you encounter is a very, very bad result. Unexpected if you consider the first half-hour of the game. I did not witness us producing so much in the initial half-hour maybe the entire season, and the initial occasion they arrived in our penalty area they found the back of the net.
“It did not happen against Manchester City, but in all other game we have been the controlling side and were able to create chances. Lately it is nearly constantly that we miss our opportunities and the attempts we concede go in.”