Slot Provides Zero Justifications and Pledges to Find Route From Malaise
Arne Slot declared he needed to “examine my own performance” following the Reds suffered a sixth loss in 7 English top-flight games at home against Forest and insisted he would discover a way from the champions’ slump.
Nottingham Forest, in the relegation zone before kick off, delivered the biggest victory at Anfield in their history as Liverpool slipped to an 8th defeat in eleven matches in every tournament. The British record signing, the Swedish striker, was once more unnoticeable and the home side contended the defender's opener ought to have been ruled out for similar reasons to the captain's chalked-off goal versus Manchester City prior to the international break. But Slot conceded the responsibility rested with him and made no excuses.
“Nobody wishes to hear me now speaking about officiating calls if you lose 3-0 at home to Forest,” stated the Liverpool head coach. “I ought to examine my own role initially and my squad, but it does show you how a score can change the momentum of a game. Earlier I was just hoping for us to score a strike. Later we hardly generated anything.
“Naturally there is a path forward, especially with the talented footballers we have. No matter if you win or are beaten when you reflect you are always considering: ‘Where can we improve, where can we make changes?’ but that is something else from questioning your abilities.
“I wish to stress I am accountable for the present defeats. You are answerable when you are victorious but also liable when you are defeated. I can never provide sufficient excuses for us to have the results we have. That is far from acceptable and I am responsible for that.”
The team's performance fell apart as the coach introduced several attacking substitutions when chasing the match. “It was the same on the road at Forest the previous campaign,” he said. “I took Ibou [Ibrahima Konaté] out and put on the Portuguese forward and he scored immediately to make it 1-1. Then it was brave, now it’s probably unwise.”
Liverpool previously were defeated in back-to-back at Anfield league fixtures by Nottingham Forest in the sixties. The most recent occasion they lost consecutive top-flight games by a three-goal scoreline was in 1965.
The manager said: “It was extremely poor. 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 game. I haven’t seen us producing so many chances in the initial half-hour perhaps the whole season, and the initial occasion they arrived in our box they scored.
“It wasn’t at City, but in all other game we have been the dominant team and were able to create opportunities. Recently it is almost consistently that we miss our opportunities and the attempts we allow find the net.”