Liverpool's Manager Offers No Excuses and Pledges to Plot Way Out of Slump
Arne Slot declared he had to “look at myself” following the Reds suffered a sixth loss in seven Premier League games at home to Nottingham Forest and affirmed he would discover a way from the champions’ slump.
Nottingham Forest, fighting against the drop before kick off, delivered the biggest win at Liverpool's stadium in their club records as Liverpool fell to an 8th defeat in eleven fixtures in all competitions. The British record signing, the Swedish striker, was again unnoticeable and Liverpool argued the defender's opener ought to have been disallowed for similar reasons to Virgil van Dijk’s disallowed effort against Manchester City before the national team pause. But the manager admitted the buck rested with him and offered no alibis.
“No one wishes to hear me now speaking about officiating calls if you lose 3-0 in your own stadium to Forest,” stated the Reds' boss. “I should look at my own role initially and my team, but it does show you how a goal can change the momentum of a game. Before I was just hoping for us to score a strike. Afterwards we hardly created anything.
“Of course there is a path forward, particularly with the talented footballers we have. No matter if you triumph or lose when you reflect you are always considering: ‘In which areas can we improve, in what aspects can we make changes?’ but that is different from doubting yourself.
“I wish to emphasise I am accountable for the present defeats. You are responsible when you are victorious but also liable when you are defeated. I can never come up with sufficient reasons for us to have the results we have. That is not acceptable and I am responsible for that.”
The team's performance unravelled as the coach made multiple attacking changes when chasing the game. “It was the identical on the road at Nottingham Forest last season,” he said. “I took Ibou [Ibrahima Konaté] out and brought on the Portuguese forward and he found the net immediately to make it 1-1. Then it was courageous, now it’s probably stupid.”
Liverpool previously were defeated in back-to-back at Anfield Premier League games against Forest in the sixties. The most recent occasion they lost back-to-back top-flight matches by a three-goal scoreline was in 1965.
Slot said: “It was very bad. Playing at home, losing 3-0 regardless of which team you face is a terrible result. Unexpected if you look at the opening 30 minutes of the game. I did not witness us creating so many chances in the initial half-hour maybe the whole season, and the first time they arrived in our penalty area they scored.
“It did not happen against Manchester City, but in every other fixture we have been the dominant team and were able to create opportunities. Recently it is almost constantly that we miss our opportunities and the ones we concede find the net.”