Liverpool's Manager Provides Zero Justifications and Vows to Find Way Out of Malaise
Arne Slot declared he needed to “examine my own performance” after Liverpool endured a sixth loss in 7 Premier League matches at home to Nottingham Forest and affirmed he would discover a solution from the title holders' slump.
Nottingham Forest, fighting against the drop before kick off, produced the biggest victory at Anfield in their history as Liverpool slipped to an 8th defeat in 11 fixtures in all competitions. The British record signing, Alexander Isak, was again unnoticeable and the home side contended the defender's first goal ought to have been disallowed for comparable grounds to the captain's disallowed effort against Manchester City before the international break. But Slot admitted the responsibility rested with him and offered no alibis.
“Nobody wants to listen to me now speaking about officiating calls if you are defeated 3-0 in your own stadium to Nottingham Forest,” said the Reds' boss. “I should examine my own role initially and my squad, but it demonstrates you how a score can alter the momentum of a match. Before I was just waiting for us to score a strike. Later we barely created any chances.
“Naturally there is a way out, particularly with the quality footballers we have. No matter if you triumph or lose when you look back you are always considering: ‘In which areas can we do better, where can we make changes?’ but that is different from questioning your abilities.
“I want to emphasise I am accountable for the present defeats. You are responsible when you are victorious but also liable when you are losing. I can never come up with enough excuses for us to have the results we have. That is far from acceptable and I am responsible for that.”
Liverpool’s display fell apart as Slot introduced multiple offensive changes when pursuing the game. “It was the identical away at Forest last season,” he said. “I substituted Ibou [Ibrahima Konaté] out and brought on the Portuguese forward and he found the net immediately to equalize at 1-1. Then it was brave, currently it’s likely unwise.”
Liverpool previously were defeated in two successive home Premier League fixtures by Nottingham Forest in 1963. The last time they lost back-to-back league matches by a three-goal scoreline was in 1965.
The manager said: “It was very bad. Playing on home soil, losing 3-0 regardless of which opponent you encounter is a terrible outcome. Unexpected if you consider the opening 30 minutes of the game. I did not witness us creating so much in the initial half-hour maybe the entire campaign, and the first time they entered in our box they found the back of the net.
“It did not happen at City, but in all other fixture we have been the dominant side and were capable to create chances. Recently it is nearly consistently that we fail to convert our opportunities and the attempts we concede go in.”