Liverpool's Manager Provides Zero Justifications and Vows to Plot Way From Malaise
Arne Slot declared he had to “look at myself” after Liverpool endured a sixth loss in seven Premier League games on their own turf against Forest and affirmed he would find a way from the title holders' poor run.
Nottingham Forest, fighting against the drop before kick off, delivered the biggest victory at Anfield in their history as Liverpool slipped to an eighth loss in 11 matches in every tournament. The most expensive domestic acquisition, Alexander Isak, was again anonymous and Liverpool contended Murillo’s first goal should have been disallowed for comparable grounds to Virgil van Dijk’s disallowed effort versus City before the national team pause. But Slot conceded the responsibility rested with him and offered no alibis.
“Nobody wants to hear me now speaking about refereeing decisions if you lose 3-0 at home to Nottingham Forest,” said the Reds' boss. “I ought to examine my own role first and my squad, but it does show you how a goal can alter the momentum of a match. Earlier I was just waiting for us to net a goal. Afterwards we hardly created any chances.
“Naturally there is a way out, particularly with the quality players we have. Regardless if you win or lose when you reflect you are always considering: ‘In which areas can we do better, in what aspects can we adjust?’ but that is something else from questioning your abilities.
“I want to stress I am accountable for the present 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 outcomes we have. That is not good enough and I am to blame for that.”
The team's display unravelled as the coach introduced multiple offensive substitutions when chasing the game. “It was the same away at Nottingham Forest the previous campaign,” he remarked. “I took Ibou [Ibrahima Konaté] out and brought on the Portuguese forward and he scored straight away to equalize at 1-1. At that time it was brave, now it’s likely stupid.”
Liverpool previously were defeated in back-to-back home Premier League games against Forest in the sixties. The most recent occasion they suffered consecutive league matches by a three-goal margin was in the mid-60s.
The manager commented: “It was extremely poor. Playing at home, losing 3-0 no matter which team you encounter is a very, very bad result. Unexpected if you consider the first half-hour of the match. I haven’t seen us producing so much in the initial half-hour maybe the whole campaign, and the first time they arrived in our penalty area they scored.
“It wasn’t against Manchester City, but in all other fixture we have been the controlling side and were able to generate opportunities. Lately it is almost consistently that we miss our chances and the ones we allow find the net.”