🔗 Share this article

Arne Slot declared he had to “look at myself” following the Reds suffered a 6th defeat in seven English top-flight games on their own turf to Nottingham Forest and insisted he would discover a way out of the champions’ poor run.

Forest, fighting against the drop prior to the match, produced the largest victory at Liverpool's stadium in their history as Liverpool fell to an eighth defeat in 11 fixtures in all competitions. The most expensive domestic acquisition, the Swedish striker, was again anonymous and the home side argued Murillo’s opener ought to have been ruled out for similar reasons to the captain's disallowed effort versus City prior to the national team pause. But the manager admitted the buck rested with him and made no excuses.

“Nobody wishes to listen to me now talking about refereeing decisions if you are defeated 3-0 at home to Forest,” stated the Liverpool head coach. “I ought to look at myself first and my team, but it does show you how a goal can change the momentum of a game. Before I was just hoping for us to net a strike. Afterwards we barely generated anything.

“Naturally there is a path forward, particularly with the talented players we have. Regardless if you win or lose when you reflect you are always considering: ‘In which areas can we improve, in what aspects can we make changes?’ but that is something else from doubting yourself.

“I wish to emphasise I am responsible for the current defeats. You are responsible when you are winning but also liable when you are defeated. I can not come up with sufficient excuses for us to have the outcomes we have. That is not acceptable and I am to blame for that.”

The team's display fell apart as the coach introduced several offensive substitutions when pursuing the match. “It was the identical away at Nottingham Forest last season,” he remarked. “I took the French defender out and brought on the Portuguese forward and he found the net immediately to make it 1-1. Then it was brave, currently it’s likely stupid.”

The Anfield side previously were defeated in back-to-back at Anfield Premier League games by Nottingham Forest in 1963. The last time they lost consecutive top-flight matches by a 3-0 margin was in the mid-60s.

The manager said: “It was very bad. Playing on home soil, conceding 3-0 regardless of which opponent you encounter is a very, very bad result. Unexpected if you consider the first half-hour of the match. I haven’t seen us producing so much in the opening half-hour perhaps the entire campaign, and the first time they arrived in our box they found the back of the net.

“It did not happen at City, but in all other fixture we have been the dominant side and were able to generate chances. Recently it is almost constantly that we fail to convert our chances and the attempts we concede find the net.”