Liverpool's Manager Offers Zero Justifications and Pledges to Find Way From Malaise

Arne Slot stated he needed to “look at myself” after the Reds suffered a 6th loss in 7 English top-flight games at home against Nottingham Forest and insisted he would discover a solution from the champions’ slump.

Forest, fighting against the drop before kick off, delivered the largest victory at Liverpool's stadium in their history as the Merseyside club fell to an 8th loss in 11 matches in every tournament. The most expensive domestic acquisition, Alexander Isak, was once more unnoticeable and the home side argued the defender's first goal ought to have been ruled out for comparable grounds to Virgil van Dijk’s chalked-off goal versus Manchester City before the national team pause. But the manager conceded the responsibility stopped with him and offered no alibis.

“No one wishes to hear me now talking about refereeing decisions if you are defeated 3-0 at home to Forest,” said the Reds' boss. “I ought to look at 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 net a goal. Afterwards we barely created anything.

“Of course there is a path forward, especially with the quality footballers we have. No matter if you triumph or are beaten when you reflect 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 responsible for the current defeats. You are responsible when you are victorious but also responsible when you are defeated. I can never come up with enough reasons for us to have the outcomes we have. That is not acceptable and I am responsible for that.”

Liverpool’s performance unravelled as the coach made multiple attacking changes when chasing the match. “It was the same away at Nottingham Forest the previous campaign,” he said. “I substituted Ibou [Ibrahima Konaté] out and brought on the Portuguese forward and he scored straight away to make it 1-1. At that time it was courageous, now it’s likely stupid.”

Liverpool last lost two successive at Anfield league games against Nottingham Forest in 1963. The last time they lost back-to-back top-flight games by a 3-0 scoreline was in the mid-60s.

The manager said: “It was very bad. Competing at home, losing 3-0 regardless of which opponent you face is a terrible result. Surprising if you look at the first half-hour of the game. I haven’t seen us producing so much in the opening half-hour perhaps the whole campaign, and the first time they entered in our box they found the back of the net.

“It wasn’t at City, but in all other game we have been the dominant side and were able to create chances. Recently it is nearly consistently that we fail to convert our chances and the ones we concede find the net.”

Alicia Pierce
Alicia Pierce

A passionate gamer and tech writer with over a decade of experience covering the latest trends in the gaming industry.