Slot Offers No Excuses and Vows to Find Way Out of Malaise
Arne Slot declared he needed to “examine my own performance” after Liverpool suffered a sixth loss in 7 English top-flight games at home against Nottingham Forest and insisted he would discover a solution out of the title holders' slump.
Nottingham Forest, fighting against the drop before kick off, delivered the largest win at Anfield in their club records as Liverpool fell to an eighth defeat in 11 fixtures in all competitions. The most expensive domestic acquisition, the Swedish striker, was again anonymous and the home side contended Murillo’s first goal ought to have been ruled out for comparable grounds to Virgil van Dijk’s disallowed effort against City before the international break. But the manager conceded the responsibility stopped with him and made no excuses.
“No one wants to hear me now talking about refereeing decisions if you lose 3-0 in your own stadium to Forest,” stated the Reds' boss. “I ought to examine myself first and my team, but it demonstrates you how a goal can alter the momentum of a game. Earlier I was just hoping for us to score a goal. Later we hardly created any chances.
“Of course there is a way out, particularly with the talented footballers we have. No matter if you win or lose when you reflect you are always considering: ‘In which areas can we do better, where can we make changes?’ but that is different from questioning yourself.
“I wish to emphasise I am accountable for the current defeats. You are answerable when you are victorious but also liable when you are losing. I can never provide enough excuses for us to have the outcomes we have. That is not good enough and I am responsible for that.”
The team's display unravelled as the coach introduced several offensive changes when pursuing the match. “It was the identical on the road at Forest last season,” he said. “I took the French defender out and brought on [Diogo] Jota and he found the net immediately to equalize at 1-1. Then it was brave, currently it’s probably stupid.”
The Anfield side last lost back-to-back home league fixtures against Forest in 1963. The most recent occasion they lost back-to-back league games by a 3-0 margin was in 1965.
Slot said: “It was very bad. Competing at home, conceding 3-0 regardless of which team you encounter is a very, very bad result. Surprising if you consider the opening 30 minutes of the game. I did not witness us producing so many chances in the opening half-hour maybe the whole campaign, and the first time they entered in our box they scored.
“It did not happen at City, but in all other fixture we have been the dominant team and were able to generate opportunities. Recently it is nearly consistently that we miss our chances and the ones we concede find the net.”