Slot Offers Zero Justifications and Pledges to Find Way Out of Slump

Liverpool's head coach declared he had to “look at myself” after Liverpool endured a sixth loss in seven English top-flight games on their own turf against Nottingham Forest and insisted he would discover a way from the champions’ poor run.

Forest, fighting against the drop prior to the match, delivered the biggest victory at Liverpool's stadium in their club records as Liverpool fell to an eighth loss in 11 matches in all competitions. The most expensive domestic acquisition, Alexander Isak, was again unnoticeable and the home side contended Murillo’s first goal ought to have been ruled out for comparable grounds to Virgil van Dijk’s disallowed effort against Manchester City prior to the international break. But Slot conceded the buck rested with him and offered no alibis.

“Nobody wants to hear me now talking about officiating calls if you lose 3-0 in your own stadium to Forest,” said the Reds' boss. “I ought to examine myself first and my squad, but it does show you how a score can alter the momentum of a game. Before I was just hoping for us to score a goal. Afterwards we hardly generated anything.

“Of course there is a path forward, especially with the talented footballers we have. No matter if you win or lose when you look back you are always considering: ‘Where can we do better, in what aspects can we adjust?’ but that is something else from questioning yourself.

“I want to stress I am accountable for the present losses. You are responsible when you are victorious but also liable when you are defeated. I can never provide sufficient excuses for us to have the outcomes we have. That is not good enough and I am responsible for that.”

The team's performance unravelled as the coach made several offensive substitutions when pursuing the game. “It was the identical on the road at Forest last season,” he remarked. “I took Ibou [Ibrahima Konaté] off and put on [Diogo] Jota and he scored immediately to equalize at 1-1. At that time it was brave, currently it’s likely unwise.”

Liverpool previously were defeated in two successive home league fixtures by Nottingham Forest in 1963. The most recent occasion they suffered back-to-back league matches by a three-goal scoreline was in 1965.

The manager said: “It was extremely poor. Competing on home soil, losing 3-0 regardless of which team you face is a terrible outcome. Surprising if you consider the opening 30 minutes of the game. I haven’t seen us creating so much in the opening 30 minutes perhaps the whole season, and the first time they entered in our penalty area they scored.

“It did not happen at City, but in every other game we have been the controlling side and were capable to create opportunities. Lately it is almost constantly that we fail to convert our opportunities and the ones we concede go in.”

Daniel Carter
Daniel Carter

Rafael is a passionate gamer and tech enthusiast based in Lisbon, sharing insights on the evolving console gaming scene in Portugal.