Slot Offers No Excuses and Pledges to Plot Route Out of Slump

Arne Slot declared he needed to “look at myself” after the Reds endured a 6th loss in seven English top-flight matches at home against Forest and insisted he would discover a solution out of the champions’ slump.

Forest, fighting against the drop prior to the match, produced the biggest victory at Anfield in their history as Liverpool slipped to an 8th defeat in 11 matches in every tournament. The most expensive domestic acquisition, the Swedish striker, was again unnoticeable and the home side contended the defender's opener ought to have been ruled out for similar reasons to Virgil van Dijk’s chalked-off goal against City before the international break. But Slot admitted the buck stopped with him and offered no alibis.

“Nobody wishes to hear me now talking about refereeing decisions if you are defeated 3-0 at home to Nottingham Forest,” stated the Reds' boss. “I should examine my own role initially and my team, but it does show you how a goal can alter the momentum of a game. Before I was just hoping for us to score a strike. Later we barely created any chances.

“Of course there is a path forward, particularly with the quality players we have. Regardless if you win or are beaten when you reflect you are always thinking: ‘In which areas can we improve, where can we adjust?’ but that is different from doubting your abilities.

“I want to emphasise I am responsible for the current losses. You are answerable when you are victorious but also liable when you are defeated. I can never come up with enough reasons for us to have the results we have. That is far from acceptable and I am to blame for that.”

Liverpool’s display fell apart as Slot made several offensive changes when pursuing the match. “It was the same on the road at Forest last season,” he remarked. “I took the French defender out and put on [Diogo] Jota and he found the net straight away to make it 1-1. Then it was brave, now it’s probably unwise.”

Liverpool last lost back-to-back at Anfield Premier League games by Nottingham Forest in the sixties. The most recent occasion they lost back-to-back league games by a 3-0 margin was in the mid-60s.

Slot said: “It was extremely poor. Competing on home soil, conceding 3-0 regardless of which team you face is a terrible outcome. Surprising if you look at the opening 30 minutes of the game. I haven’t seen us creating so much in the opening half-hour maybe the whole season, and the first time they arrived in our penalty area they found the back of the net.

“It did not happen against Manchester City, but in every other game we have been the controlling side and were capable to create chances. Lately it is almost constantly that we miss our chances and the attempts we concede find the net.”