Liverpool's Manager Offers No Excuses and Pledges to Find Route Out of Slump
Arne Slot declared he had to “look at myself” after Liverpool suffered a sixth loss in 7 Premier League games at home to Forest and insisted he would discover a way from the champions’ slump.
Nottingham Forest, fighting against the drop prior to the match, delivered the largest win at Anfield in their club records as Liverpool fell to an eighth defeat in eleven fixtures in all competitions. The most expensive domestic acquisition, Alexander Isak, was again unnoticeable and the home side argued Murillo’s first goal ought to have been disallowed for similar reasons to the captain's chalked-off goal against Manchester City before the international break. But Slot conceded the responsibility rested with him and offered no alibis.
“No one wants to listen to me now speaking about refereeing decisions if you lose 3-0 in your own stadium to Forest,” stated the Reds' boss. “I ought to examine my own role first and my team, but it does show you how a score can alter the momentum of a game. Earlier I was just waiting for us to net a goal. Afterwards we barely created any chances.
“Of course there is a path forward, especially with the talented footballers we have. No matter if you triumph or are beaten when you look back you are always thinking: ‘Where can we improve, where can we adjust?’ but that is something else from questioning yourself.
“I want to emphasise I am responsible for the current losses. You are responsible when you are victorious but also liable when you are defeated. I can never provide sufficient excuses for us to have the outcomes we have. That is not acceptable and I am responsible for that.”
Liverpool’s display unravelled as Slot made multiple attacking changes when pursuing the game. “It was the identical away at Nottingham Forest last season,” he remarked. “I substituted Ibou [Ibrahima Konaté] off and brought on the Portuguese forward and he scored immediately to equalize at 1-1. Then it was courageous, currently it’s probably unwise.”
The Anfield side previously were defeated in back-to-back home Premier League games by Nottingham Forest in the sixties. The most recent occasion they lost back-to-back top-flight matches by a three-goal margin was in 1965.
Slot said: “It was very bad. Playing at home, losing 3-0 no matter which team you encounter is a terrible outcome. Unexpected if you consider the opening 30 minutes of the match. I did not witness us producing so much in the initial 30 minutes maybe the whole season, and the initial occasion they entered in our box they scored.
“It wasn’t at City, but in every other fixture we have been the controlling side and were capable to create chances. Recently it is almost consistently that we fail to convert our opportunities and the ones we allow find the net.”