Slot Offers No Excuses and Vows to Plot Way Out of Malaise

Liverpool's head coach stated he had to “examine my own performance” after the Reds endured a sixth loss in seven English top-flight matches on their own turf to Forest and insisted he would discover a solution out of the title holders' slump.

Nottingham Forest, in the relegation zone prior to the match, delivered the largest victory at Anfield in their history as Liverpool slipped to an eighth defeat in eleven fixtures in every tournament. The most expensive domestic acquisition, the Swedish striker, was once more unnoticeable and Liverpool argued the defender's opener ought to have been ruled out for comparable grounds to the captain's disallowed effort versus City before the national team pause. But Slot conceded the responsibility rested with him and made no excuses.

“No one wishes to listen to me now talking about refereeing decisions if you lose 3-0 in your own stadium to Forest,” stated the Liverpool head coach. “I should examine my own role first and my team, but it demonstrates you how a score can change the momentum of a game. Before I was just hoping for us to score a goal. Afterwards we barely created any chances.

“Of course there is a way out, particularly with the talented players we have. Regardless if you win or are beaten when you look back you are always considering: ‘In which areas can we do better, where can we make changes?’ but that is different from questioning your abilities.

“I want to emphasise I am accountable for the present defeats. You are answerable when you are victorious but also responsible when you are losing. I can never come up with sufficient reasons for us to have the outcomes we have. That is not good enough and I am to blame for that.”

Liverpool’s performance unravelled as Slot introduced multiple offensive substitutions when pursuing the match. “It was the same on the road at Forest last season,” he said. “I took Ibou [Ibrahima Konaté] off and put on the Portuguese forward and he scored straight away to equalize at 1-1. At that time it was brave, currently it’s likely stupid.”

The Anfield side last lost back-to-back home Premier League games by Forest in 1963. The most recent occasion they suffered back-to-back top-flight matches by a three-goal scoreline was in 1965.

Slot said: “It was very bad. Competing at home, conceding 3-0 no matter which opponent you encounter is a terrible result. Unexpected if you consider the first half-hour of the game. I haven’t seen us creating so much in the initial half-hour perhaps the whole season, and the first time they arrived in our penalty area they found the back of the net.

“It wasn’t at City, but in all other game we have been the dominant side and were capable to generate chances. Lately it is nearly consistently that we fail to convert our chances and the ones we concede go in.”

Jeff Wright
Jeff Wright

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