🔗 Share this article

Arne Slot stated he needed to “look at myself” after Liverpool endured a 6th loss in 7 Premier League games on their own turf against Nottingham Forest and affirmed he would discover a way out of the champions’ poor run.

Nottingham Forest, in the relegation zone prior to the match, delivered the largest win at Anfield in their club records as Liverpool slipped to an 8th loss in eleven fixtures in every tournament. The most expensive domestic acquisition, the Swedish striker, was once more unnoticeable and the home side contended Murillo’s opener should have been disallowed for similar reasons to Virgil van Dijk’s disallowed effort versus City before the national team pause. But the manager conceded the responsibility rested with him and made no excuses.

“Nobody wants to listen to me now speaking about refereeing decisions if you are defeated 3-0 at home to Nottingham Forest,” said the Liverpool head coach. “I should examine my own role first and my team, but it does show you how a goal can change the momentum of a match. Before I was just hoping for us to score a goal. Later we barely generated any chances.

“Of course there is a path forward, especially with the talented players we have. No matter if you triumph or are beaten when you reflect you are always thinking: ‘Where can we do better, 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 losses. You are answerable when you are winning but also liable when you are defeated. I can never come up with enough excuses for us to have the outcomes we have. That is far from good enough and I am responsible for that.”

The team's performance fell apart as the coach introduced several offensive substitutions when pursuing the game. “It was the identical on the road at Nottingham Forest the previous campaign,” he remarked. “I took Ibou [Ibrahima Konaté] off and brought on the Portuguese forward and he scored immediately to make it 1-1. At that time it was brave, now it’s probably stupid.”

Liverpool last lost two successive home league fixtures against Nottingham Forest in 1963. The last time they lost back-to-back top-flight games by a 3-0 margin was in 1965.

The manager said: “It was very bad. Playing on home soil, conceding 3-0 no matter which team you encounter is a very, very bad outcome. Unexpected if you consider the first half-hour of the match. I haven’t seen us producing so many chances in the initial 30 minutes maybe the whole campaign, and the first time they arrived in our penalty area they scored.

“It did not happen against Manchester City, but in all other fixture we have been the dominant team and were able to create chances. Lately it is nearly constantly that we fail to convert our chances and the ones we allow find the net.”