Slot Provides No Excuses and Pledges to Find Way From Malaise

Liverpool's head coach declared he needed to “examine my own performance” after Liverpool suffered a sixth defeat in 7 Premier League games on their own turf to Nottingham Forest and insisted he would discover a solution from the champions’ poor run.

Nottingham Forest, in the relegation zone prior to the match, delivered the biggest victory at Anfield in their club records as the Merseyside club fell to an 8th loss in 11 matches in all competitions. The most expensive domestic acquisition, the Swedish striker, was once more anonymous and Liverpool contended Murillo’s first goal ought to have been disallowed for comparable grounds to the captain's chalked-off goal against City before the national team pause. But Slot admitted the responsibility stopped with him and made no excuses.

“No one wants to listen to me now talking about officiating calls if you are defeated 3-0 in your own stadium to Forest,” said the Liverpool head coach. “I should examine myself first and my squad, but it demonstrates you how a goal can change the flow of a game. Before I was just hoping for us to net a strike. Later we hardly generated anything.

“Of course there is a way out, especially with the quality players we have. No matter if you triumph or lose when you look back you are always thinking: ‘In which areas can we do better, where can we make changes?’ but that is different from doubting your abilities.

“I want to stress I am responsible for the current losses. You are responsible when you are winning but also liable when you are defeated. I can not provide enough excuses for us to have the results we have. That is not good enough and I am to blame for that.”

The team's performance fell apart as Slot made several attacking substitutions when pursuing the game. “It was the identical on the road at Forest last season,” he said. “I substituted the French defender off and brought on [Diogo] Jota and he scored straight away to make it 1-1. Then it was brave, currently it’s probably stupid.”

Liverpool previously were defeated in two successive home league fixtures by Nottingham Forest in the sixties. The most recent occasion they suffered back-to-back top-flight games by a 3-0 scoreline was in the mid-60s.

Slot said: “It was very bad. Playing on home soil, losing 3-0 no matter which opponent you encounter is a very, very bad outcome. Unexpected if you consider the opening 30 minutes of the match. I haven’t seen us producing so much 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 game we have been the controlling team and were able to generate chances. Recently it is almost consistently that we fail to convert our opportunities and the attempts we concede find the net.”

Gerald Sanford
Gerald Sanford

A digital strategist with over 8 years of experience in tech innovation and content creation, passionate about sharing practical insights.