Slot Offers Zero Justifications and Vows to Find Route Out of Malaise
Arne Slot declared he had to “examine my own performance” following Liverpool suffered a 6th defeat in 7 English top-flight matches at home to Nottingham Forest and insisted he would find a way out of the title holders' poor run.
Forest, in the relegation zone before kick off, produced the biggest victory at Liverpool's stadium in their history as the Merseyside club fell to an 8th defeat in eleven matches in all competitions. The most expensive domestic acquisition, the Swedish striker, was again unnoticeable and the home side contended the defender's opener ought to have been ruled out for similar reasons to Virgil van Dijk’s disallowed effort versus Manchester City before the national team pause. But Slot admitted the buck stopped with him and offered no alibis.
“No one wants to listen to me now speaking about officiating calls if you are defeated 3-0 in your own stadium to Nottingham Forest,” said the Reds' boss. “I should look at my own role initially and my team, but it does show you how a score can alter the flow of a game. Earlier I was just hoping for us to score a strike. Afterwards we hardly generated any chances.
“Naturally there is a path forward, particularly with the talented footballers we have. Regardless if you triumph 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 yourself.
“I wish to emphasise I am responsible for the current losses. You are responsible when you are winning but also liable when you are losing. I can not come up with sufficient excuses for us to have the results we have. That is not good enough and I am responsible for that.”
Liverpool’s display unravelled as the coach made multiple offensive substitutions when chasing the match. “It was the identical on the road at Nottingham Forest last season,” he said. “I took the French defender out and brought on the Portuguese forward and he found the net immediately to equalize at 1-1. Then it was courageous, currently it’s probably stupid.”
The Anfield side last lost two successive at Anfield Premier League games by Nottingham Forest in 1963. The last time they suffered back-to-back top-flight matches 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. Unexpected if you look at the first half-hour of the game. I haven’t seen us creating so much in the initial 30 minutes perhaps the entire season, and the first time they arrived in our penalty area they scored.
“It wasn’t at City, but in all other game we have been the dominant side and were capable to generate opportunities. Recently it is almost consistently that we fail to convert our chances and the ones we concede find the net.”