Liverpool's Manager Provides No Excuses and Pledges to Find Route Out of Slump
Liverpool's head coach stated he needed to “examine my own performance” following Liverpool suffered a sixth loss in 7 Premier League matches at home to Nottingham Forest and affirmed he would discover a solution out of the champions’ slump.
Nottingham Forest, fighting against the drop before kick off, produced the largest victory at Anfield in their club records as the Merseyside club fell to an eighth loss in 11 fixtures in all competitions. The most expensive domestic acquisition, Alexander Isak, was once more unnoticeable and Liverpool contended the defender's first goal should have been disallowed for similar reasons to the captain's chalked-off goal versus Manchester City prior to the international break. But Slot conceded the buck rested with him and made no excuses.
“No one wishes to hear me now talking 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 myself first and my team, but it does show you how a goal can change the momentum of a match. Earlier I was just waiting for us to score a strike. Later we hardly generated any chances.
“Of course there is a way out, particularly with the quality footballers we have. No matter if you triumph or are beaten when you look back you are always considering: ‘Where can we improve, in what aspects can we make changes?’ but that is something else from questioning yourself.
“I want to emphasise I am accountable for the present losses. You are answerable when you are winning but also responsible when you are defeated. I can never provide enough reasons for us to have the outcomes we have. That is not acceptable and I am responsible for that.”
Liverpool’s performance fell apart as Slot introduced multiple attacking changes when pursuing the match. “It was the same on the road at Nottingham Forest last season,” he remarked. “I took Ibou [Ibrahima Konaté] off and brought on [Diogo] Jota and he scored straight away to equalize at 1-1. At that time it was courageous, now it’s likely stupid.”
Liverpool last lost two successive at Anfield league games by Forest in 1963. The last time they suffered consecutive league matches by a three-goal margin was in the mid-60s.
Slot 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 opening 30 minutes of the game. I haven’t seen us producing so much in the initial 30 minutes maybe the whole season, and the first time they arrived in our box they found the back of the net.
“It did not happen at City, but in all other game we have been the controlling team and were able to create opportunities. Recently it is nearly constantly that we miss our chances and the attempts we allow go in.”