Slot Offers Zero Justifications and Vows to Plot Route From Slump
Liverpool's head coach declared he needed to “look at myself” after the Reds endured a sixth loss in seven English top-flight games on their own turf to Forest and affirmed he would discover a way out of the title holders' slump.
Nottingham Forest, in the relegation zone prior to the match, delivered the biggest victory at Liverpool's stadium in their club records as Liverpool slipped to an eighth defeat in 11 fixtures in every tournament. The British record signing, Alexander Isak, was once more unnoticeable and Liverpool contended Murillo’s opener ought to have been ruled out for similar reasons to the captain's chalked-off goal against Manchester City before the national team pause. But Slot conceded the responsibility rested with him and offered no alibis.
“No one wants to hear me now talking about officiating calls if you lose 3-0 at home to Nottingham Forest,” said the Liverpool head coach. “I ought to examine my own role initially and my team, but it does show you how a score can change the momentum of a game. Before I was just hoping for us to net a strike. Afterwards we hardly created any chances.
“Of course there is a path forward, particularly with the talented footballers we have. Regardless if you win or lose when you look back you are always considering: ‘Where can we improve, in what aspects can we make changes?’ but that is different from doubting your abilities.
“I want to emphasise I am accountable for the current losses. You are responsible when you are winning but also liable when you are losing. I can never come up with sufficient reasons for us to have the results we have. That is not good enough and I am responsible for that.”
Liverpool’s performance unravelled as the coach introduced multiple attacking changes when pursuing the match. “It was the same away at Forest last season,” he remarked. “I substituted Ibou [Ibrahima Konaté] out and put on [Diogo] Jota and he scored immediately to equalize at 1-1. Then it was brave, currently it’s likely unwise.”
Liverpool previously were defeated in back-to-back at Anfield league fixtures by Forest in 1963. The most recent occasion they lost consecutive top-flight games by a three-goal margin was in 1965.
The manager said: “It was extremely poor. Competing on home soil, conceding 3-0 no matter which team you encounter is a terrible result. Unexpected if you consider the first half-hour of the game. I haven’t seen us producing so many chances in the opening half-hour maybe the entire season, and the first time they entered in our box they found the back of the net.
“It did not happen at City, but in every other game we have been the controlling team and were capable to create chances. Lately it is almost consistently that we miss our opportunities and the attempts we concede go in.”