Liverpool's Manager Provides Zero Justifications and Vows to Find Way Out of Malaise
Liverpool's head coach declared he had to “examine my own performance” after Liverpool endured a 6th loss in 7 Premier League games on their own turf to Forest and affirmed he would discover a way out of the title holders' poor run.
Forest, in the relegation zone prior to the match, produced the biggest win at Anfield in their club records as Liverpool fell to an eighth loss in 11 fixtures in every tournament. The most expensive domestic acquisition, the Swedish striker, was once more anonymous and the home side argued the defender's first goal should have been disallowed for similar reasons to Virgil van Dijk’s chalked-off goal versus City prior to the national team pause. But Slot conceded the buck rested with him and offered no alibis.
“No one wants to hear me now speaking about refereeing decisions if you lose 3-0 in your own stadium to Nottingham Forest,” said the Liverpool head coach. “I ought to examine my own role initially and my squad, but it demonstrates you how a goal can change the momentum of a match. Before I was just hoping for us to score a goal. Later we barely generated any chances.
“Of course there is a path forward, particularly with the talented players we have. Regardless if you triumph or are beaten when you reflect you are always considering: ‘In which areas can we do better, in what aspects can we adjust?’ but that is something else from doubting your abilities.
“I wish to stress I am responsible for the present losses. You are responsible when you are winning but also responsible when you are defeated. I can not come up with sufficient reasons for us to have the results we have. That is not acceptable and I am responsible for that.”
Liverpool’s display fell apart as Slot introduced multiple attacking substitutions when chasing the match. “It was the same on the road at Forest the previous campaign,” he said. “I substituted the French defender off and put on the Portuguese forward and he found the net straight away to make it 1-1. Then it was courageous, now it’s probably stupid.”
Liverpool previously were defeated in two successive at Anfield Premier League fixtures against Nottingham Forest in the sixties. The last time they suffered back-to-back league matches by a 3-0 scoreline was in the mid-60s.
Slot said: “It was extremely poor. Competing on home soil, losing 3-0 regardless of which team you face is a very, very bad outcome. Unexpected if you consider the first half-hour of the match. I haven’t seen us creating so many chances in the opening half-hour maybe the entire campaign, and the initial occasion they arrived in our penalty area they found the back of the net.
“It wasn’t at City, but in every other fixture we have been the controlling side and were capable to generate opportunities. Recently it is nearly consistently that we fail to convert our chances and the ones we allow go in.”