Liverpool's Manager Offers No Excuses and Vows to Plot Way From Slump

Liverpool's head coach stated he had to “examine my own performance” after Liverpool suffered a 6th defeat in 7 Premier League matches at home against Forest and affirmed he would find a way out of the title holders' poor run.

Nottingham Forest, in the relegation zone before kick off, delivered the biggest victory at Anfield in their club records as the Merseyside club fell to an 8th defeat in eleven matches in every tournament. The British record signing, Alexander Isak, was again anonymous and the home side argued the defender's opener ought to have been ruled out for similar reasons to Virgil van Dijk’s chalked-off goal against City prior to the national team pause. But Slot admitted the buck rested with him and made no excuses.

“Nobody wants to listen to me now speaking about officiating calls if you are defeated 3-0 at home to Forest,” stated the Reds' boss. “I ought to examine myself initially and my squad, but it demonstrates you how a goal can alter the momentum of a match. Before I was just waiting for us to score a goal. Afterwards we hardly generated any chances.

“Naturally there is a path forward, especially with the quality footballers we have. Regardless if you triumph or are beaten when you reflect you are always thinking: ‘In which areas can we improve, in what aspects can we adjust?’ but that is something else from questioning yourself.

“I wish to emphasise I am responsible for the present defeats. You are answerable 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 to blame for that.”

The team's display unravelled as the coach made multiple offensive changes when chasing the game. “It was the same away at Forest last season,” he said. “I took Ibou [Ibrahima Konaté] out and put on [Diogo] Jota and he found the net immediately to equalize at 1-1. At that time it was brave, currently it’s probably unwise.”

Liverpool previously were defeated in two successive home Premier League fixtures against Nottingham Forest in 1963. The last time they lost consecutive league matches by a three-goal scoreline was in the mid-60s.

The manager said: “It was very bad. Playing on home soil, conceding 3-0 regardless of which opponent you encounter is a very, very bad outcome. Unexpected if you look at the opening 30 minutes of the match. I did not witness us producing so much in the initial 30 minutes perhaps the whole campaign, and the first time 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 controlling side and were able to create opportunities. Lately it is nearly constantly that we miss our opportunities and the attempts we concede find the net.”

Anna Welch
Anna Welch

Mikael Voss is a passionate gaming journalist with over a decade of experience covering esports and indie game development.