Slot Offers Zero Justifications and Vows to Plot Route From Slump

Arne Slot stated he needed to “examine my own performance” following Liverpool endured a sixth loss in 7 English top-flight games on their own turf against Nottingham Forest and insisted he would discover a way from the champions’ poor run.

Forest, in the relegation zone prior to the match, delivered the biggest victory at Anfield in their club records as Liverpool slipped to an 8th loss in 11 fixtures in all competitions. The British record signing, Alexander Isak, was once more anonymous and the home side argued the defender's first goal ought to have been disallowed for comparable grounds to Virgil van Dijk’s disallowed effort against City before the national team pause. But Slot conceded the buck stopped with him and offered no alibis.

“Nobody wants to hear me now speaking about refereeing decisions if you are defeated 3-0 at home to Nottingham Forest,” said the Reds' boss. “I ought to examine my own role first and my squad, but it demonstrates you how a score can change the flow of a match. Earlier I was just hoping for us to score a strike. Afterwards we hardly generated anything.

“Of course there is a way out, particularly with the talented players we have. Regardless if you win or are beaten when you look back you are always considering: ‘In which areas can we improve, in what aspects can we make changes?’ but that is something else from questioning your abilities.

“I wish to emphasise I am responsible for the current defeats. You are responsible when you are winning but also liable when you are defeated. I can never provide sufficient excuses for us to have the outcomes we have. That is not acceptable and I am to blame for that.”

Liverpool’s performance fell apart as Slot made several offensive changes when chasing the match. “It was the identical away at Nottingham Forest last season,” he remarked. “I took the French defender off and put on the Portuguese forward and he scored straight away to make it 1-1. At that time it was brave, currently it’s probably stupid.”

Liverpool last lost two successive at Anfield Premier League games against Nottingham Forest in the sixties. The last time they suffered consecutive top-flight matches by a 3-0 margin was in the mid-60s.

Slot commented: “It was very bad. Competing at home, conceding 3-0 no matter which team you face is a terrible result. Surprising if you consider the first half-hour of the game. I haven’t seen us producing so many chances in the initial half-hour maybe the entire season, and the first time they arrived in our penalty area they found the back of the net.

“It wasn’t against Manchester City, but in all other fixture we have been the controlling side and were able to create opportunities. Recently it is nearly constantly that we miss our chances and the attempts we concede find the net.”