Liverpool's Manager Provides No Excuses and Pledges to Find Route Out of Malaise

Arne Slot stated he had to “examine my own performance” after Liverpool endured a sixth defeat in 7 English top-flight games at home to Nottingham Forest and insisted he would find a way from the champions’ poor run.

Forest, fighting against the drop before kick off, delivered the biggest victory at Anfield in their history as the Merseyside club fell to an 8th loss in 11 fixtures in all competitions. The British record signing, Alexander Isak, was again unnoticeable and the home side contended Murillo’s first goal should have been ruled out for similar reasons to Virgil van Dijk’s disallowed effort against Manchester City prior to the international break. But Slot admitted the responsibility rested with him and made no excuses.

“No one wishes to hear me now talking about officiating calls if you are defeated 3-0 at home to Nottingham Forest,” stated the Reds' boss. “I should look at myself initially and my team, but it demonstrates you how a score can alter the momentum of a match. Before I was just hoping for us to score a goal. Later we hardly generated any chances.

“Naturally there is a path forward, particularly with the quality players we have. No matter if you triumph or lose when you look back you are always considering: ‘In which areas can we improve, where can we adjust?’ but that is different from questioning yourself.

“I wish to emphasise I am responsible for the present defeats. You are answerable when you are winning but also responsible when you are losing. I can not come up with enough reasons for us to have the outcomes we have. That is far from good enough and I am responsible for that.”

The team's performance fell apart as the coach introduced several offensive substitutions when chasing the game. “It was the identical on the road at Forest last season,” he remarked. “I substituted Ibou [Ibrahima Konaté] off and brought on [Diogo] Jota and he found the net straight away to make it 1-1. At that time it was brave, now it’s probably unwise.”

The Anfield side previously were defeated in back-to-back home league fixtures by Forest in 1963. The most recent occasion they lost back-to-back league games by a 3-0 margin was in 1965.

The manager said: “It was extremely poor. Competing on home soil, conceding 3-0 no matter which team you face is a terrible outcome. Unexpected if you look at the first half-hour of the match. I haven’t seen us producing so many chances in the initial 30 minutes perhaps the entire campaign, and the first time they entered in our box they found the back of the net.

“It did not happen at City, but in every other fixture we have been the controlling side and were capable to generate opportunities. Lately it is nearly constantly that we miss our opportunities and the ones we concede find the net.”

Julie Stout
Julie Stout

A passionate tech enthusiast and gamer with over a decade of experience in reviewing cutting-edge gadgets and gaming gear.