Slot Provides No Excuses and Vows to Plot Way From Malaise
Liverpool's head coach declared he needed to “look at myself” after Liverpool suffered a 6th loss in 7 English top-flight matches at home against Nottingham Forest and affirmed he would discover a solution from the title holders' slump.
Nottingham Forest, fighting against the drop before kick off, delivered the biggest victory at Anfield in their club records as Liverpool slipped to an 8th loss in eleven fixtures in all competitions. The British record signing, the Swedish striker, was once more anonymous and Liverpool argued the defender's first goal ought to have been disallowed for similar reasons to Virgil van Dijk’s disallowed effort against City before the international break. But the manager conceded the buck rested with him and made no excuses.
“Nobody wishes to listen to me now talking about officiating calls if you are defeated 3-0 in your own stadium to Nottingham Forest,” said the Liverpool head coach. “I should look at my own role initially and my squad, but it does show you how a goal can change the flow of a match. Before I was just waiting for us to net a strike. Afterwards we barely created any chances.
“Naturally there is a path forward, particularly with the talented players we have. No matter if you win or lose when you look back you are always considering: ‘In which areas can we improve, where can we make changes?’ but that is something else from questioning your abilities.
“I want to stress I am responsible for the current losses. You are answerable when you are victorious but also liable when you are defeated. I can never provide enough excuses for us to have the outcomes we have. That is far from good enough and I am to blame for that.”
Liverpool’s performance unravelled as the coach made several attacking substitutions when pursuing the match. “It was the same on the road at Forest the previous campaign,” he said. “I substituted the French defender off and brought on [Diogo] Jota and he found the net immediately to make it 1-1. Then it was courageous, currently it’s likely unwise.”
Liverpool previously were defeated in two successive home Premier League games by Nottingham Forest in the sixties. The last time they lost back-to-back league games by a 3-0 scoreline was in the mid-60s.
Slot commented: “It was extremely poor. Playing at home, conceding 3-0 no matter which team you face is a very, very bad outcome. Surprising if you consider the opening 30 minutes of the game. I haven’t seen us producing so many chances in the opening half-hour perhaps the whole season, and the first time they entered in our box they scored.
“It wasn’t against Manchester City, but in every other game we have been the controlling side and were capable to create chances. Recently it is nearly constantly that we miss our opportunities and the attempts we concede find the net.”