Slot Offers Zero Justifications and Vows to Find Way From Slump

Liverpool's head coach stated he needed to “look at myself” after the Reds suffered a sixth loss in 7 Premier League games at home against Forest and insisted he would find a solution out of the champions’ poor run.

Forest, in the relegation zone before kick off, produced the biggest win at Anfield in their club records as the Merseyside club fell to an 8th loss in 11 fixtures in all competitions. The most expensive domestic acquisition, Alexander Isak, was again anonymous and the home side contended the defender's opener ought to have been ruled out for comparable grounds to Virgil van Dijk’s chalked-off goal against City prior to the international break. But the manager admitted the responsibility stopped with him and offered no alibis.

“No one wants to hear me now speaking about refereeing decisions if you lose 3-0 at home to Forest,” said the Liverpool head coach. “I ought to examine myself initially 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 net a strike. Later we barely created anything.

“Naturally there is a way out, particularly with the talented players we have. No matter if you win or are beaten when you reflect you are always considering: ‘Where can we improve, in what aspects can we make changes?’ but that is different from doubting your abilities.

“I wish to stress I am responsible for the current losses. You are answerable when you are victorious but also responsible when you are defeated. I can never come up with enough reasons for us to have the outcomes we have. That is far from good enough and I am to blame for that.”

Liverpool’s display unravelled as Slot introduced multiple attacking substitutions when chasing the game. “It was the same away at Nottingham Forest the previous campaign,” he said. “I took Ibou [Ibrahima Konaté] out and brought on [Diogo] Jota and he found the net immediately to equalize at 1-1. Then it was courageous, now it’s likely unwise.”

Liverpool previously were defeated in two successive at Anfield league fixtures by Nottingham Forest in 1963. The last time they suffered back-to-back top-flight matches by a three-goal scoreline was in 1965.

The manager said: “It was extremely poor. Competing on home soil, conceding 3-0 regardless of which team you encounter is a terrible result. Unexpected if you consider the first half-hour of the match. I did not witness us producing so many chances in the opening half-hour perhaps the entire campaign, and the initial occasion they arrived in our box they found the back of the net.

“It wasn’t against Manchester City, but in every other fixture we have been the dominant side and were able to create chances. Lately it is almost constantly that we fail to convert our opportunities and the attempts we allow find the net.”

Amber Klein
Amber Klein

Wildlife biologist and conservationist with over a decade of experience studying sloths in Central America.