Slot Provides Zero Justifications and Pledges to Find Way Out of Slump
Arne Slot stated he had to “examine my own performance” after the Reds endured a 6th loss in 7 Premier League games on their own turf against Nottingham Forest and affirmed he would find a solution out of the champions’ poor run.
Nottingham Forest, fighting against the drop prior to the match, delivered the biggest win at Liverpool's stadium in their club records as Liverpool fell to an 8th loss in eleven fixtures in all competitions. The most expensive domestic acquisition, the Swedish striker, was again unnoticeable and Liverpool contended the defender's first goal ought to have been ruled out for similar reasons to Virgil van Dijk’s chalked-off goal against Manchester City prior to the international break. But Slot admitted the buck rested with him and offered no alibis.
“No one wishes to listen to me now talking about officiating calls if you are defeated 3-0 at home to Nottingham Forest,” said the Reds' boss. “I ought to examine myself first and my squad, but it does show you how a goal can alter the flow of a game. Before I was just waiting for us to net a goal. Afterwards we barely created any chances.
“Naturally there is a path forward, especially with the talented footballers we have. Regardless if you triumph or are beaten when you reflect you are always considering: ‘Where can we do better, where can we make changes?’ but that is different from questioning your abilities.
“I want to stress I am accountable for the current defeats. You are responsible when you are winning but also responsible when you are losing. I can not provide enough excuses for us to have the results we have. That is far from good enough and I am to blame for that.”
Liverpool’s display unravelled as Slot introduced several attacking changes when chasing the match. “It was the identical away at Forest the previous campaign,” he said. “I took Ibou [Ibrahima Konaté] out and brought on [Diogo] Jota and he scored immediately to make it 1-1. At that time it was brave, currently it’s probably stupid.”
Liverpool last lost two successive at Anfield league games by Forest in the sixties. The most recent occasion they suffered back-to-back top-flight games by a 3-0 margin was in 1965.
The manager said: “It was very bad. Playing on home soil, conceding 3-0 no matter 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 producing so much in the initial half-hour maybe the entire campaign, and the first time they arrived in our penalty area they found the back of the net.
“It wasn’t at City, but in every other game we have been the controlling team and were capable to generate chances. Recently it is nearly consistently that we fail to convert our chances and the attempts we allow find the net.”