Slot Offers No Excuses and Vows to Plot Way From Malaise
Arne Slot declared he had to “look at myself” after the Reds suffered a sixth defeat in seven English top-flight games at home against Forest and insisted he would find a solution out of the title holders' poor run.
Nottingham Forest, in the relegation zone before kick off, delivered the biggest win at Anfield in their club records as Liverpool fell to an 8th loss in 11 matches in every tournament. The British record signing, Alexander Isak, was again unnoticeable and the home side argued Murillo’s opener ought to have been ruled out for similar reasons to the captain's disallowed effort against City before the international break. But the manager admitted the buck stopped with him and made no excuses.
“Nobody wants to listen to me now talking about officiating calls if you are defeated 3-0 at home to Forest,” stated the Reds' boss. “I ought to look at my own role initially and my team, but it demonstrates you how a goal can change the flow of a match. Earlier I was just waiting for us to score a strike. Later we hardly created anything.
“Naturally there is a path forward, particularly with the talented footballers we have. Regardless if you win or are beaten when you look back you are always thinking: ‘In which areas can we do better, in what aspects can we make changes?’ but that is something else from doubting yourself.
“I want to stress I am accountable for the present defeats. You are answerable when you are winning but also responsible when you are defeated. I can never come up with enough excuses for us to have the results we have. That is not good enough and I am responsible for that.”
The team's display fell apart as Slot made several offensive substitutions when pursuing the game. “It was the same away at Nottingham Forest last season,” he remarked. “I took the French defender off and brought on [Diogo] Jota and he scored immediately to make it 1-1. Then it was brave, now it’s likely stupid.”
Liverpool previously were defeated in back-to-back at Anfield Premier League fixtures against Forest in the sixties. The most recent occasion they lost consecutive league games by a three-goal margin was in the mid-60s.
Slot commented: “It was very bad. Playing at home, losing 3-0 no matter which opponent you face is a very, very bad result. Unexpected if you look at the first half-hour of the match. I haven’t seen us creating so much in the opening 30 minutes perhaps the whole season, and the first time they arrived in our box they found the back of the net.
“It did not happen against Manchester City, but in every other fixture we have been the controlling side and were able to create chances. Recently it is almost constantly that we miss our opportunities and the attempts we allow go in.”