🔗 Share this article

Arne Slot stated he had to “examine my own performance” following Liverpool endured a sixth loss in seven Premier League matches on their own turf to Nottingham Forest and insisted he would find a way out of the champions’ poor run.

Forest, fighting against the drop before kick off, delivered the largest win at Anfield in their club records as the Merseyside club slipped to an 8th defeat in 11 matches in all competitions. The British record signing, Alexander Isak, was again anonymous and the home side contended the defender's first goal should have been disallowed for comparable grounds to Virgil van Dijk’s disallowed effort against Manchester City before the international break. But the manager admitted the responsibility 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,” stated the Reds' boss. “I should look at myself first and my squad, but it does show you how a score can alter the momentum of a match. Earlier I was just hoping for us to score a strike. Later we hardly generated any chances.

“Naturally there is a way out, particularly with the quality players we have. No matter if you triumph or are beaten when you look back you are always thinking: ‘Where can we do better, where can we adjust?’ but that is something else from doubting yourself.

“I want to emphasise I am responsible for the current defeats. You are answerable when you are winning but also responsible when you are losing. I can not come up with sufficient excuses for us to have the results we have. That is not acceptable and I am responsible for that.”

Liverpool’s display unravelled as Slot introduced several offensive substitutions when chasing the match. “It was the identical away at Forest the previous campaign,” he said. “I took the French defender out and put on [Diogo] Jota and he scored straight away to equalize at 1-1. At that time it was brave, now it’s probably unwise.”

The Anfield side last lost back-to-back home league fixtures against Nottingham Forest in the sixties. The last time they lost consecutive league matches by a three-goal scoreline was in 1965.

The manager commented: “It was extremely poor. Competing on home soil, losing 3-0 no matter which opponent you encounter is a very, very bad result. Unexpected if you consider the opening 30 minutes of the game. I haven’t seen us creating so much in the initial half-hour maybe the whole campaign, and the first time they arrived in our penalty area they scored.

“It did not happen against Manchester City, but in all other game we have been the controlling side and were capable to create chances. Lately it is almost consistently that we fail to convert our opportunities and the ones we allow go in.”