Liverpool's Manager Provides Zero Justifications and Pledges to Find Way From Slump
Arne Slot stated he had to “look at myself” following the Reds suffered a sixth defeat in 7 English top-flight matches at home to Nottingham Forest and affirmed he would find a solution from the champions’ slump.
Nottingham Forest, fighting against the drop prior to the match, delivered the largest win at Anfield in their history as Liverpool fell to an 8th loss in eleven matches in all competitions. The most expensive domestic acquisition, the Swedish striker, was once more anonymous and Liverpool argued Murillo’s first goal should have been disallowed for similar reasons to the captain's chalked-off goal versus City before the international break. But Slot conceded the buck stopped with him and offered no alibis.
“No one wishes to listen to me now talking about officiating calls if you are defeated 3-0 at home to Forest,” stated the Liverpool head coach. “I should look at my own role first and my team, but it does show you how a goal can change the flow of a game. Before I was just hoping for us to net a strike. Afterwards we hardly generated anything.
“Of course there is a path forward, especially with the talented footballers we have. No matter if you win or lose when you reflect you are always considering: ‘Where can we do better, where can we make changes?’ but that is different from doubting your abilities.
“I want to stress I am accountable for the present losses. You are responsible when you are victorious but also liable when you are defeated. I can not 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 performance fell apart as Slot introduced several offensive substitutions when pursuing the match. “It was the identical away at Forest last season,” he remarked. “I substituted Ibou [Ibrahima Konaté] out and put on [Diogo] Jota and he scored straight away to equalize at 1-1. At that time it was brave, now it’s likely stupid.”
The Anfield side previously were defeated in back-to-back home league games against Nottingham Forest in 1963. The last time they lost consecutive top-flight matches by a three-goal margin was in the mid-60s.
Slot said: “It was very bad. Competing on home soil, conceding 3-0 no matter which team you encounter is a terrible result. Surprising if you consider the first half-hour of the game. I haven’t seen us creating so many chances in the initial half-hour maybe the entire season, and the initial occasion they arrived in our penalty area they scored.
“It did not happen at City, but in every other game we have been the controlling side and were capable to generate opportunities. Recently it is almost consistently that we fail to convert our opportunities and the attempts we allow go in.”