Slot Offers No Excuses and Vows to Plot Route From Malaise

Arne Slot declared he needed to “examine my own performance” following the Reds suffered a 6th defeat in 7 English top-flight games on their own turf to Forest and insisted he would find a way from the champions’ poor run.

Forest, fighting against the drop prior to the match, delivered the largest win at Anfield in their club records as Liverpool slipped to an eighth loss in eleven fixtures in all competitions. The most expensive domestic acquisition, Alexander Isak, was once more anonymous and the home side contended Murillo’s first goal should have been disallowed for similar reasons to the captain's disallowed effort against Manchester City before the national team pause. But the manager conceded the responsibility rested with him and offered no alibis.

“No one wants to listen to me now speaking about refereeing decisions if you are defeated 3-0 in your own stadium to Nottingham Forest,” said the Reds' boss. “I ought to look at my own role initially and my squad, but it demonstrates you how a goal can alter the flow of a match. Earlier I was just hoping for us to net a goal. Later we hardly created any chances.

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

“I want to stress I am accountable for the current losses. You are responsible when you are victorious but also liable when you are defeated. I can not come up with sufficient excuses for us to have the outcomes we have. That is far from good enough and I am to blame for that.”

Liverpool’s performance unravelled as Slot made several offensive substitutions when pursuing the game. “It was the same on the road at Forest the previous campaign,” he remarked. “I took Ibou [Ibrahima Konaté] off and brought on the Portuguese forward and he scored immediately to equalize at 1-1. Then it was brave, now it’s probably unwise.”

The Anfield side last lost two successive at Anfield Premier League games against Forest in 1963. The most recent occasion they suffered back-to-back top-flight matches by a three-goal margin was in the mid-60s.

Slot said: “It was extremely poor. Competing on home soil, losing 3-0 no matter which team you encounter is a terrible outcome. Surprising if you look at the first half-hour of the game. I did not witness us producing so much in the opening 30 minutes maybe the whole season, and the first time they entered in our box they scored.

“It did not happen against Manchester City, but in every other fixture we have been the dominant team and were capable to create opportunities. Recently it is nearly consistently that we miss our chances and the ones we allow go in.”

Luis Holt
Luis Holt

An architect and urban planner with over 15 years of experience in sustainable design projects across Europe.