Slot Offers No Excuses and Vows to Find Route Out of Slump
Liverpool's head coach declared he had to “examine my own performance” following the Reds suffered a sixth loss in seven Premier League games on their own turf to Forest and affirmed he would discover a way from the champions’ slump.
Nottingham Forest, in the relegation zone before kick off, delivered the biggest win at Anfield in their history as the Merseyside club slipped to an 8th defeat in 11 matches in every tournament. The most expensive domestic acquisition, Alexander Isak, was once more unnoticeable and the home side argued the defender's first goal should have been ruled out for similar reasons to Virgil van Dijk’s chalked-off goal against City prior to the international break. But Slot conceded the buck rested with him and made no excuses.
“No one wishes to listen to me now talking about refereeing decisions if you lose 3-0 in your own stadium to Nottingham Forest,” stated the Reds' boss. “I should examine my own role initially and my squad, but it demonstrates you how a goal can change the momentum of a game. Earlier I was just hoping for us to score a strike. Later we hardly created any chances.
“Of course there is a way out, especially with the quality players we have. Regardless if you triumph or are beaten when you look back you are always thinking: ‘Where can we do better, where can we adjust?’ but that is different from questioning your abilities.
“I wish to stress I am responsible for the current defeats. You are responsible when you are winning but also responsible when you are losing. I can not provide sufficient reasons for us to have the outcomes we have. That is not acceptable and I am responsible for that.”
The team's display unravelled as the coach made several offensive substitutions when chasing the match. “It was the identical away at Nottingham Forest the previous campaign,” he said. “I took Ibou [Ibrahima Konaté] off and put on the Portuguese forward and he found the net straight away to make it 1-1. At that time it was courageous, now it’s likely stupid.”
Liverpool previously were defeated in back-to-back home Premier League games by Forest in the sixties. The last time they suffered consecutive top-flight matches by a three-goal margin was in the mid-60s.
The manager said: “It was extremely poor. Competing at home, losing 3-0 regardless of which opponent you encounter is a terrible result. Surprising if you look at the first half-hour of the game. I did not witness us creating so much in the initial 30 minutes maybe the whole season, and the first time they entered in our box they scored.
“It did not happen against Manchester City, but in every other fixture we have been the controlling team and were capable to generate chances. Lately it is almost consistently that we miss our chances and the attempts we concede go in.”