Liverpool's Manager Offers Zero Justifications and Pledges to Find Route From Slump

Arne Slot stated he needed to “look at myself” after Liverpool endured a 6th loss in seven Premier League games on their own turf to Nottingham Forest and affirmed he would find a solution out of the title holders' slump.

Nottingham Forest, in the relegation zone before kick off, produced the biggest win at Liverpool's stadium in their club records as the Merseyside club slipped to an eighth defeat in 11 matches in every tournament. The most expensive domestic acquisition, the Swedish striker, was once more anonymous and the home side argued the defender's first goal should have been disallowed for similar reasons to the captain's disallowed effort versus City before the international break. But the manager admitted the buck stopped with him and made no excuses.

“Nobody wants to hear me now speaking about refereeing decisions if you are defeated 3-0 in your own stadium to Forest,” said the Liverpool head coach. “I ought to examine myself initially and my squad, but it demonstrates you how a score can change the momentum of a match. Before I was just hoping for us to net a strike. Afterwards we hardly generated anything.

“Of course there is a way out, particularly with the talented footballers we have. No matter if you triumph or are beaten when you reflect you are always considering: ‘Where can we improve, where can we adjust?’ but that is something else from doubting yourself.

“I want to stress I am responsible for the current defeats. You are responsible when you are winning but also responsible when you are defeated. I can not come up with enough reasons for us to have the results we have. That is far from good enough and I am to blame for that.”

The team's performance unravelled as Slot made several offensive substitutions when chasing the game. “It was the identical away at Forest last season,” he said. “I took the French defender off and put on the Portuguese forward and he scored immediately to equalize at 1-1. Then it was courageous, now it’s likely unwise.”

The Anfield side previously were defeated in back-to-back at Anfield Premier League games by Forest in 1963. The last time they lost consecutive league matches by a three-goal margin was in 1965.

Slot commented: “It was very bad. Playing on home soil, losing 3-0 regardless of which team you face is a terrible outcome. Unexpected if you consider the opening 30 minutes of the match. I haven’t seen us creating so much in the initial half-hour perhaps the entire season, and the first time they arrived in our penalty area they scored.

“It wasn’t against Manchester City, but in every other fixture we have been the dominant side and were capable to create opportunities. Recently it is almost consistently that we fail to convert our chances and the attempts we concede go in.”

Daniel Evans
Daniel Evans

A technology strategist with over a decade of experience in digital innovation and enterprise solutions.