Liverpool's Manager Offers Zero Justifications and Pledges to Plot Route From Slump
Liverpool's head coach declared he needed to “look at myself” after Liverpool suffered a 6th loss in seven English top-flight matches at home to Nottingham Forest and insisted he would discover a solution out of the champions’ poor run.
Forest, in the relegation zone before kick off, delivered the largest victory at Anfield in their club records as the Merseyside club slipped to an eighth loss in eleven matches in all competitions. The British record signing, the Swedish striker, was once more unnoticeable and the home side argued Murillo’s first goal ought to have been disallowed for comparable grounds to Virgil van Dijk’s disallowed effort against Manchester City prior to the international break. But Slot conceded the responsibility stopped with him and offered no alibis.
“Nobody wants to hear me now speaking about refereeing decisions if you are defeated 3-0 in your own stadium to Forest,” said the Liverpool head coach. “I ought to look at myself initially and my squad, but it does show you how a score can alter the momentum of a match. Earlier I was just waiting for us to net a goal. Afterwards we barely created anything.
“Naturally there is a path forward, particularly with the quality footballers we have. No matter if you triumph or lose when you reflect you are always considering: ‘Where can we do better, in what aspects can we make changes?’ but that is different from questioning your abilities.
“I wish to emphasise I am responsible for the current losses. You are answerable when you are victorious but also responsible when you are losing. I can not come up with enough excuses for us to have the outcomes we have. That is far from good enough and I am to blame for that.”
The team's performance unravelled as the coach introduced several offensive changes when chasing the match. “It was the same away at Nottingham Forest the previous campaign,” he said. “I took the French defender off and brought on [Diogo] Jota and he found the net immediately to equalize at 1-1. Then it was courageous, now it’s probably unwise.”
Liverpool last lost back-to-back home Premier League games against Forest in the sixties. The last time they lost consecutive league games by a three-goal scoreline was in 1965.
Slot commented: “It was very bad. Playing at home, losing 3-0 regardless of which opponent you encounter is a terrible result. Surprising if you consider the first half-hour of the game. I haven’t seen us creating so much in the opening 30 minutes perhaps the entire campaign, and the initial occasion they arrived in our penalty area they found the back of the net.
“It wasn’t against Manchester City, but in all other fixture we have been the controlling side and were capable to create opportunities. Recently it is almost constantly that we miss our opportunities and the attempts we concede find the net.”