Liverpool's Manager Provides No Excuses and Pledges to Plot Route Out of Malaise
Arne Slot declared he had to “examine my own performance” after Liverpool endured a sixth loss in 7 Premier League matches on their own turf against Nottingham Forest and affirmed he would find a way from the title holders' poor run.
Forest, in the relegation zone before kick off, produced the largest victory at Liverpool's stadium in their history as the Merseyside club slipped to an eighth loss in 11 fixtures in every tournament. The most expensive domestic acquisition, Alexander Isak, was once more unnoticeable and the home side argued Murillo’s opener ought to have been disallowed for comparable grounds to Virgil van Dijk’s disallowed effort versus Manchester City before the international break. But Slot conceded the responsibility rested with him and offered no alibis.
“No one wishes to listen to me now speaking about refereeing decisions if you lose 3-0 in your own stadium to Forest,” said the Liverpool head coach. “I should look at myself initially and my team, but it does show you how a score can change the momentum of a game. Earlier I was just hoping for us to score a strike. Afterwards we barely created any chances.
“Naturally there is a way out, especially with the quality players we have. No matter if you triumph or lose when you reflect you are always considering: ‘Where can we do better, in what aspects can we make changes?’ but that is different from questioning yourself.
“I wish to stress I am responsible for the current losses. You are answerable when you are victorious but also responsible when you are losing. I can never come up with sufficient reasons for us to have the outcomes we have. That is far from good enough and I am to blame for that.”
The team's performance unravelled as Slot introduced multiple offensive substitutions when chasing the match. “It was the same on the road at Forest the previous campaign,” he said. “I took Ibou [Ibrahima Konaté] out and brought on [Diogo] Jota and he found the net straight away to equalize at 1-1. At that time it was courageous, now it’s probably unwise.”
Liverpool last lost two successive at Anfield Premier League games by Nottingham Forest in 1963. The last time they lost consecutive top-flight matches by a three-goal scoreline was in the mid-60s.
The manager said: “It was very bad. Competing at home, conceding 3-0 no matter which team you encounter is a very, very bad result. Unexpected if you consider the opening 30 minutes of the match. I did not witness us creating so much in the opening 30 minutes perhaps the entire season, and the initial occasion they arrived in our penalty area they scored.
“It did not happen at City, but in all other fixture we have been the controlling team and were able to create opportunities. Lately it is nearly constantly that we fail to convert our chances and the ones we allow find the net.”