Slot Provides No Excuses and Vows to Find Way Out of Malaise

Arne Slot declared he needed to “examine my own performance” after the Reds suffered a sixth loss in 7 English top-flight games on their own turf to Forest and insisted he would find a solution from the title holders' poor run.

Forest, fighting against the drop prior to the match, delivered the biggest win at Anfield in their club records as Liverpool fell to an 8th defeat in eleven fixtures in all competitions. The British record signing, the Swedish striker, was again anonymous and the home side argued Murillo’s first goal ought to have been disallowed for comparable grounds to Virgil van Dijk’s chalked-off goal versus Manchester City before the national team pause. But Slot admitted the responsibility stopped with him and made no excuses.

“Nobody wishes to listen to me now talking about refereeing decisions if you are defeated 3-0 at home to Nottingham Forest,” stated the Liverpool head coach. “I should examine my own role initially and my team, but it does show you how a score can alter the momentum of a match. Before I was just waiting for us to net a strike. Later we hardly created anything.

“Naturally there is a way out, especially with the talented players we have. Regardless if you win or are beaten when you reflect you are always considering: ‘In which areas can we do better, in what aspects can we adjust?’ but that is something else from doubting yourself.

“I wish to stress I am accountable for the current losses. You are answerable when you are victorious but also responsible when you are losing. I can not come up with enough reasons for us to have the results we have. That is far from acceptable and I am to blame for that.”

The team's performance unravelled as the coach made multiple attacking substitutions when chasing the match. “It was the identical on the road at Nottingham Forest last season,” he remarked. “I substituted Ibou [Ibrahima Konaté] out and brought on [Diogo] Jota and he scored immediately to make it 1-1. Then it was courageous, currently it’s likely unwise.”

Liverpool last lost two successive at Anfield league games against Forest in the sixties. The last time they suffered back-to-back top-flight matches by a 3-0 scoreline was in the mid-60s.

The manager said: “It was very bad. Competing on home soil, conceding 3-0 regardless of which team you encounter is a terrible result. Surprising if you look at the first half-hour of the game. I did not witness us creating so much in the opening half-hour perhaps the entire campaign, and the initial occasion they arrived in our box they scored.

“It wasn’t against Manchester City, but in all other game we have been the controlling team and were able to generate chances. Lately it is nearly constantly that we miss our opportunities and the ones we allow go in.”

Kevin Hendricks
Kevin Hendricks

Maya Chen is a tech journalist and digital strategist with over a decade of experience covering emerging technologies and their impact on business and society.