Slot Offers No Excuses and Vows to Plot Route Out of Slump
Liverpool's head coach declared he had to “examine my own performance” following Liverpool suffered a 6th defeat in 7 English top-flight games on their own turf against Forest and affirmed he would find a solution out of the title holders' slump.
Nottingham Forest, in the relegation zone before kick off, produced the largest win at Liverpool's stadium in their club records as Liverpool slipped to an 8th defeat in 11 matches in all competitions. The British record signing, Alexander Isak, was once more anonymous and the home side argued Murillo’s opener ought to have been ruled out for similar reasons to the captain's chalked-off goal versus Manchester City before the national team pause. But Slot conceded the responsibility rested with him and offered no alibis.
“No one wants to listen to me now talking about officiating calls if you are defeated 3-0 in your own stadium to Forest,” said the Liverpool head coach. “I ought to look at my own role initially and my squad, but it demonstrates you how a score can change the flow of a game. Before I was just hoping for us to score a goal. Afterwards we hardly generated any chances.
“Naturally there is a path forward, particularly with the talented players we have. Regardless if you triumph or lose when you reflect you are always considering: ‘In which areas can we improve, in what aspects can we adjust?’ but that is something else from doubting yourself.
“I wish to stress I am responsible for the current losses. You are responsible when you are winning but also liable when you are defeated. I can never provide sufficient excuses for us to have the outcomes we have. That is not acceptable and I am responsible for that.”
The team's performance fell apart as Slot made several offensive changes when chasing the match. “It was the same on the road at Nottingham Forest the previous campaign,” he remarked. “I substituted Ibou [Ibrahima Konaté] off and brought on the Portuguese forward and he scored straight away to make it 1-1. Then it was courageous, now 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 league matches by a 3-0 scoreline was in the mid-60s.
The manager said: “It was very bad. Playing on home soil, conceding 3-0 no matter which team you encounter is a terrible result. Surprising if you look at the first half-hour of the match. I haven’t seen us producing so much in the initial 30 minutes maybe the entire campaign, and the initial occasion 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 team and were able to generate chances. Lately it is almost consistently that we miss our opportunities and the ones we concede go in.”