Slot Provides No Excuses and Pledges to Plot Route From Slump
Arne Slot stated he had to “look at myself” after Liverpool endured a 6th defeat in seven Premier League matches at home to Forest and insisted he would discover a solution out of the title holders' slump.
Nottingham Forest, in the relegation zone prior to the match, delivered the biggest win at Liverpool's stadium in their club records as Liverpool fell to an eighth loss in 11 matches in all competitions. The British record signing, Alexander Isak, was again anonymous and Liverpool argued the defender's first goal should have been disallowed for similar reasons to Virgil van Dijk’s chalked-off goal versus City before the national team pause. But Slot conceded the buck rested with him and offered no alibis.
“No one wants to hear me now talking about refereeing decisions if you are defeated 3-0 in your own stadium to Forest,” stated the Liverpool head coach. “I should look at my own role initially and my team, but it does show you how a score can change the momentum of a match. Earlier I was just waiting for us to net a strike. Afterwards we hardly created anything.
“Of course there is a way out, especially with the quality footballers we have. Regardless if you triumph or are beaten when you reflect you are always thinking: ‘In which areas can we improve, where can we make changes?’ but that is different from doubting your abilities.
“I want to emphasise I am accountable for the current losses. You are responsible when you are winning but also liable when you are defeated. I can not provide enough reasons for us to have the results we have. That is not acceptable and I am to blame for that.”
Liverpool’s performance unravelled as the coach introduced several offensive changes when pursuing the match. “It was the same on the road at Forest last season,” he said. “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.”
Liverpool previously were defeated in two successive at Anfield league games against Forest in 1963. The last time they lost consecutive top-flight games by a 3-0 scoreline was in the mid-60s.
Slot commented: “It was extremely poor. Competing on home soil, conceding 3-0 regardless of which opponent you encounter is a very, very bad result. Unexpected if you look at the first half-hour of the game. I did not witness us producing so many chances in the opening half-hour maybe the entire season, and the initial occasion they arrived in our box they scored.
“It wasn’t against Manchester City, but in every other fixture we have been the dominant team and were able to generate opportunities. Recently it is almost consistently that we fail to convert our chances and the attempts we concede go in.”