🔗 Share this article

Liverpool's head coach stated he had to “look at myself” following the Reds suffered a 6th loss in seven Premier League matches on their own turf against Nottingham Forest and insisted he would find a solution out of the title holders' poor run.

Nottingham Forest, in the relegation zone before kick off, delivered the largest win at Liverpool's stadium in their history as the Merseyside club slipped to an eighth defeat in 11 fixtures in all competitions. The most expensive domestic acquisition, Alexander Isak, was once more anonymous and Liverpool contended the defender's first goal should have been disallowed for similar reasons to Virgil van Dijk’s chalked-off goal versus Manchester City before the national team pause. But Slot admitted the responsibility rested with him and made no excuses.

“No one wants to listen to me now talking about refereeing decisions if you are defeated 3-0 at home to Forest,” stated the Reds' boss. “I should look at my own role initially and my squad, but it demonstrates you how a goal can alter the momentum of a game. Before I was just hoping for us to net a goal. Later we hardly generated any chances.

“Of course there is a path forward, especially with the talented players we have. Regardless if you triumph or lose when you reflect you are always considering: ‘Where can we improve, where can we adjust?’ but that is different from doubting yourself.

“I want to emphasise I am responsible for the current losses. You are answerable when you are winning but also responsible when you are defeated. I can not provide enough excuses for us to have the results we have. That is far from good enough and I am to blame for that.”

The team's display fell apart as Slot introduced several attacking substitutions when pursuing the match. “It was the same away at Forest last season,” he remarked. “I took the French defender out and put on the Portuguese forward and he scored straight away to equalize at 1-1. Then it was brave, currently it’s probably unwise.”

The Anfield side last lost back-to-back at Anfield Premier League games by Nottingham Forest in the sixties. The most recent occasion they lost 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, conceding 3-0 no matter which team you face is a very, very bad outcome. Unexpected if you look at the opening 30 minutes of the match. I did not witness us creating so many chances in the opening half-hour perhaps the whole season, and the initial occasion they entered in our box they found the back of the net.

“It wasn’t against Manchester City, but in every other fixture we have been the controlling team and were capable to generate opportunities. Recently it is almost consistently that we fail to convert our opportunities and the ones we concede find the net.”