🔗 Share this article

Arne Slot stated he needed to “look at myself” following the Reds endured a 6th defeat in seven English top-flight matches at home against Nottingham Forest and insisted he would discover a solution from the champions’ slump.

Forest, fighting against the drop before kick off, produced the biggest victory at Anfield in their club records as Liverpool fell to an 8th defeat in eleven matches in all competitions. The British record signing, the Swedish striker, was once more anonymous and Liverpool contended the defender's opener should have been disallowed for similar reasons to the captain's chalked-off goal versus Manchester City before the national team pause. But the manager admitted the buck rested with him and offered no alibis.

“Nobody wants to hear me now talking about refereeing decisions if you lose 3-0 in your own stadium to Forest,” said the Liverpool head coach. “I should examine 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. Later we hardly generated anything.

“Naturally there is a path forward, especially with the quality players we have. No matter if you triumph or lose when you reflect you are always thinking: ‘Where can we do better, in what aspects can we make changes?’ but that is something else from questioning yourself.

“I wish to stress I am accountable for the present defeats. You are answerable when you are victorious but also responsible when you are losing. I can never provide enough excuses for us to have the outcomes we have. That is far from acceptable and I am responsible for that.”

The team's display fell apart as the coach made multiple offensive changes when pursuing the game. “It was the identical away at Forest last season,” he said. “I took Ibou [Ibrahima Konaté] off and brought on [Diogo] Jota and he scored straight away to make it 1-1. Then it was brave, now it’s probably stupid.”

Liverpool previously were defeated in two successive at Anfield Premier League games against Forest in 1963. The last time they suffered back-to-back top-flight games by a three-goal margin was in 1965.

The manager commented: “It was very bad. Competing on home soil, losing 3-0 regardless of which team you face is a very, very bad result. Unexpected if you look at the opening 30 minutes of the game. I haven’t seen us producing so much in the opening 30 minutes perhaps the whole season, and the first time they entered in our box they scored.

“It did not happen against Manchester City, but in all other game we have been the controlling team and were capable to create opportunities. Lately it is nearly consistently that we fail to convert our opportunities and the attempts we allow find the net.”