Liverpool's Manager Offers No Excuses and Vows to Find Way Out of Malaise

Arne Slot declared he had to “look at myself” after the Reds suffered a sixth loss in seven Premier League games on their own turf to Forest and insisted he would discover a way from the champions’ slump.

Forest, fighting against the drop prior to the match, produced the biggest victory at Liverpool's stadium in their history as Liverpool slipped to an 8th defeat in eleven fixtures in every tournament. The British record signing, Alexander Isak, was again anonymous and the home side argued the defender's first goal should have been disallowed for comparable grounds to Virgil van Dijk’s disallowed effort against Manchester City prior to the international break. But Slot conceded the buck stopped with him and offered no alibis.

“Nobody wants to listen to me now talking about officiating calls if you are defeated 3-0 at home to Forest,” said the Reds' boss. “I ought to look at myself initially and my team, but it does show you how a score can change the flow of a game. Earlier I was just waiting for us to score a strike. Later we hardly generated any chances.

“Naturally there is a way out, particularly with the quality footballers we have. Regardless if you triumph or are beaten when you reflect you are always thinking: ‘Where can we improve, in what aspects can we make changes?’ but that is different from questioning yourself.

“I want to stress I am accountable for the present defeats. You are responsible when you are winning but also liable when you are losing. I can not provide enough excuses for us to have the outcomes we have. That is not acceptable and I am to blame for that.”

Liverpool’s display fell apart as Slot introduced multiple offensive substitutions when chasing the game. “It was the same on the road at Forest the previous campaign,” he said. “I substituted Ibou [Ibrahima Konaté] off and put on [Diogo] Jota and he found the net immediately to equalize at 1-1. At that time it was brave, now it’s probably unwise.”

Liverpool previously were defeated in back-to-back at Anfield Premier League games by Nottingham Forest in the sixties. The most recent occasion they lost back-to-back top-flight games by a 3-0 scoreline was in the mid-60s.

The manager said: “It was extremely poor. Competing on home soil, conceding 3-0 regardless of which team you face is a terrible result. Surprising if you look at the first half-hour of the game. I haven’t seen us producing so much in the initial half-hour maybe the whole season, and the initial occasion they arrived in our penalty area they scored.

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

Anthony Hernandez
Anthony Hernandez

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