Liverpool's Manager Offers No Excuses and Vows to Plot Way From Slump
Arne Slot stated he needed to “examine my own performance” following the Reds endured a sixth loss in seven English top-flight matches at home against Nottingham Forest and insisted he would discover a way from the title holders' poor run.
Nottingham Forest, fighting against the drop before kick off, delivered the biggest victory at Anfield in their club records as Liverpool fell to an 8th loss in 11 fixtures in every tournament. The most expensive domestic acquisition, Alexander Isak, was again unnoticeable and Liverpool argued the defender's opener ought to have been ruled out for comparable grounds to Virgil van Dijk’s disallowed effort against City before the national team pause. But Slot admitted the buck stopped with him and offered no alibis.
“Nobody wishes to hear me now talking about refereeing decisions if you lose 3-0 in your own stadium to Forest,” said the Reds' boss. “I should look at my own role initially and my team, but it demonstrates you how a score can change the momentum of a game. Before I was just waiting for us to score a strike. Afterwards we barely generated anything.
“Naturally there is a path forward, especially with the quality footballers we have. No matter if you triumph or lose when you look back you are always thinking: ‘Where can we improve, in what aspects can we adjust?’ but that is different from doubting yourself.
“I want to emphasise I am responsible for the current defeats. You are answerable when you are winning but also liable when you are defeated. I can not come up with enough reasons for us to have the outcomes we have. That is not acceptable and I am to blame for that.”
Liverpool’s display fell apart as Slot made several attacking substitutions when pursuing the game. “It was the identical away at Forest last season,” he remarked. “I substituted the French defender out and brought on the Portuguese forward and he found the net immediately to make it 1-1. At that time it was courageous, currently it’s likely stupid.”
Liverpool previously were defeated in two successive home Premier League games by Forest in the sixties. The last time they lost back-to-back top-flight games by a three-goal scoreline was in 1965.
The manager said: “It was very bad. Playing at home, losing 3-0 regardless of which team you face is a very, very bad outcome. Surprising if you look at the first half-hour of the match. I did not witness us creating so much in the opening half-hour perhaps the entire campaign, and the initial occasion they entered in our box they found the back of the net.
“It wasn’t against Manchester City, but in every other game we have been the dominant side and were able to generate opportunities. Lately it is nearly consistently that we fail to convert our opportunities and the ones we concede go in.”