Liverpool's Manager Offers No Excuses and Vows to Plot Route Out of Slump
Arne Slot declared he had to “look at myself” after Liverpool endured a sixth defeat in 7 English top-flight games at home against Forest and affirmed he would find a way out of the title holders' poor run.
Forest, in the relegation zone prior to the match, delivered the biggest victory at Liverpool's stadium in their club records as the Merseyside club fell to an eighth defeat in eleven fixtures in every tournament. The most expensive domestic acquisition, Alexander Isak, was once more anonymous and the home side argued the defender's opener ought to have been disallowed for similar reasons to Virgil van Dijk’s disallowed effort versus Manchester City prior to the international break. But the manager conceded the buck stopped with him and offered no alibis.
“Nobody wants 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. Before I was just waiting for us to net a strike. Afterwards we barely generated any chances.
“Of course there is a way out, especially with the talented footballers we have. Regardless if you win or lose when you reflect you are always thinking: ‘In which areas can we improve, where can we make changes?’ but that is different from questioning your abilities.
“I wish to stress I am accountable for the current losses. You are answerable when you are winning but also responsible when you are losing. I can not provide sufficient reasons for us to have the outcomes we have. That is not good enough and I am responsible for that.”
The team's performance unravelled as the coach made several attacking changes when pursuing the game. “It was the identical away at Nottingham Forest last season,” he remarked. “I substituted the French defender out and put on the Portuguese forward and he found the net straight away to equalize at 1-1. At that time it was courageous, now it’s probably unwise.”
Liverpool previously were defeated in back-to-back home league fixtures against Nottingham Forest in the sixties. The most recent occasion they suffered back-to-back league games by a 3-0 scoreline was in the mid-60s.
Slot commented: “It was extremely poor. Playing at home, losing 3-0 no matter which team you encounter is a terrible result. Unexpected if you consider the opening 30 minutes of the match. I did not witness us producing so much in the opening 30 minutes perhaps the entire season, and the first time they arrived in our box they scored.
“It did not happen at City, but in every other game we have been the controlling side and were able to create chances. Recently it is almost constantly that we fail to convert our opportunities and the ones we allow find the net.”