Liverpool's Manager Provides No Excuses and Vows to Find Route Out of Malaise
Liverpool's head coach stated he had to “examine my own performance” after the Reds endured a 6th defeat in 7 Premier League games at home against Nottingham Forest and affirmed he would discover a solution out of the title holders' slump.
Forest, in the relegation zone prior to the match, produced the largest win at Anfield in their history as Liverpool slipped to an eighth defeat in 11 matches in every tournament. The most expensive domestic acquisition, Alexander Isak, was once more unnoticeable and the home side contended the defender's opener should have been ruled out for similar reasons to Virgil van Dijk’s chalked-off goal against Manchester City before the international break. But Slot admitted the buck stopped with him and offered no alibis.
“No one wishes to listen to me now talking about refereeing decisions if you are defeated 3-0 in your own stadium to Nottingham Forest,” stated the Reds' boss. “I should examine my own role initially and my squad, but it demonstrates you how a score can change the flow of a match. Before I was just waiting for us to net a strike. Later we barely created any chances.
“Of course there is a path forward, particularly with the quality players we have. Regardless if you triumph or lose when you look back you are always thinking: ‘Where can we do better, where can we make changes?’ but that is something else from doubting yourself.
“I wish to stress I am accountable for the current losses. You are responsible when you are winning but also responsible when you are losing. I can never provide sufficient excuses for us to have the outcomes we have. That is far from acceptable and I am responsible for that.”
Liverpool’s performance fell apart as Slot made several offensive changes when chasing the game. “It was the same on the road at Forest last season,” he said. “I substituted Ibou [Ibrahima Konaté] off and brought on [Diogo] Jota and he found the net straight away to equalize at 1-1. At that time it was courageous, now it’s likely stupid.”
Liverpool last lost two successive home league fixtures by Nottingham Forest in 1963. The most recent occasion they lost consecutive league matches by a 3-0 margin was in 1965.
Slot commented: “It was very bad. Competing at home, losing 3-0 regardless of which opponent you encounter is a terrible outcome. Unexpected if you look at the opening 30 minutes of the match. I did not witness us creating so many chances in the opening half-hour perhaps the entire season, and the initial occasion they arrived in our penalty area they found the back of the net.
“It wasn’t against Manchester City, but in every other fixture we have been the dominant team and were able to create chances. Lately it is almost consistently that we fail to convert our opportunities and the attempts we concede go in.”