Liverpool's Manager Offers No Excuses and Vows to Find Route Out of Malaise
Arne Slot stated he had to “examine my own performance” following Liverpool suffered a 6th loss in 7 English top-flight games on their own turf against Forest and affirmed he would find a way out of the title holders' poor run.
Nottingham Forest, in the relegation zone prior to the match, produced the biggest victory at Liverpool's stadium in their club records as the Merseyside club fell to an eighth loss in eleven fixtures in all competitions. The most expensive domestic acquisition, the Swedish striker, was again anonymous and the home side contended the defender's first goal should have been disallowed for comparable grounds to Virgil van Dijk’s chalked-off goal against City before the national team pause. But Slot admitted the responsibility rested with him and offered no alibis.
“No one wants to hear me now speaking about refereeing decisions if you are defeated 3-0 at home to Nottingham Forest,” stated the Reds' boss. “I ought to examine myself initially and my team, but it demonstrates you how a goal can alter the flow of a game. Earlier I was just waiting for us to net a strike. Later we hardly generated any chances.
“Naturally there is a path forward, particularly with the talented footballers we have. Regardless if you win or lose when you look back you are always considering: ‘In which areas can we improve, where can we adjust?’ but that is different from questioning yourself.
“I wish to emphasise I am responsible for the present losses. You are responsible when you are victorious but also responsible when you are defeated. I can not provide sufficient reasons for us to have the outcomes we have. That is far from acceptable and I am to blame for that.”
Liverpool’s performance unravelled as the coach made several attacking changes when pursuing the match. “It was the identical away at Forest the previous campaign,” he remarked. “I took Ibou [Ibrahima Konaté] off and put on the Portuguese forward and he scored straight away to equalize at 1-1. At that time it was brave, now it’s probably unwise.”
The Anfield side previously were defeated in back-to-back home Premier League fixtures against Nottingham Forest in the sixties. The last time they suffered back-to-back league matches by a three-goal scoreline was in the mid-60s.
Slot said: “It was very bad. Playing at home, losing 3-0 no matter which opponent you encounter is a terrible outcome. Surprising if you consider the opening 30 minutes of the game. I did not witness us producing so many chances in the opening half-hour maybe 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 every other game we have been the controlling team and were able to generate chances. Recently it is almost consistently that we miss our chances and the ones we allow go in.”