Slot Offers No Excuses and Pledges to Find Route From Slump
Arne Slot declared he had to “look at myself” after Liverpool endured a sixth loss in seven Premier League matches on their own turf to Forest and affirmed he would find a solution out of the champions’ poor run.
Nottingham Forest, fighting against the drop prior to the match, delivered the largest win at Anfield in their history as the Merseyside club slipped to an eighth defeat in 11 matches in every tournament. The British record signing, the Swedish striker, was again anonymous and Liverpool contended Murillo’s first goal ought to have been ruled out for similar reasons to the captain's chalked-off goal against Manchester City prior to the national team pause. But Slot conceded the buck stopped with him and made no excuses.
“Nobody wishes to listen to me now speaking about officiating calls if you are defeated 3-0 in your own stadium to Nottingham Forest,” stated the Reds' boss. “I ought to look at my own role initially and my squad, but it does show you how a score can alter the flow of a game. Before I was just waiting for us to net a goal. Later we barely created any chances.
“Of course there is a way out, especially with the talented footballers we have. No matter if you win or are beaten when you look back you are always thinking: ‘Where can we do better, in what aspects can we make changes?’ but that is something else from questioning your abilities.
“I want to stress I am accountable for the present defeats. You are responsible when you are victorious but also responsible when you are losing. I can never come up with enough reasons for us to have the results we have. That is not acceptable and I am responsible for that.”
The team's display fell apart as Slot introduced several attacking substitutions when pursuing the game. “It was the same away at Nottingham Forest the previous campaign,” he said. “I took Ibou [Ibrahima Konaté] off and brought on the Portuguese forward and he scored straight away to equalize at 1-1. Then it was brave, now it’s likely unwise.”
Liverpool last lost two successive home Premier League games against Forest in 1963. The last time they suffered back-to-back top-flight games by a three-goal margin was in 1965.
Slot commented: “It was extremely poor. Playing on home soil, conceding 3-0 regardless of which team you face is a very, very bad result. Surprising if you consider the first half-hour of the game. I did not witness us producing so many chances in the initial half-hour perhaps the entire campaign, and the first time they arrived in our box they found the back of the net.
“It wasn’t at City, but in every other fixture we have been the controlling side and were capable to create opportunities. Recently it is nearly consistently that we miss our chances and the ones we concede find the net.”
