Liverpool's Manager Offers Zero Justifications and Vows to Plot Way From Malaise

Liverpool's head coach stated he had to “examine my own performance” after the Reds suffered a 6th defeat in seven Premier League games on their own turf to Nottingham Forest and insisted he would find a way out of the champions’ poor run.

Nottingham Forest, in the relegation zone prior to the match, delivered the biggest win at Liverpool's stadium in their history as Liverpool slipped to an 8th loss in eleven matches in every tournament. The most expensive domestic acquisition, the Swedish striker, was again unnoticeable and the home side contended the defender's opener should have been ruled out for comparable grounds to Virgil van Dijk’s disallowed effort against City before the international break. But the manager conceded the buck rested with him and offered no alibis.

“No one wishes to hear me now speaking about refereeing decisions if you lose 3-0 in your own stadium to Forest,” said the Liverpool head coach. “I should look at my own role first and my team, but it demonstrates you how a goal can alter the momentum of a game. Earlier I was just waiting for us to net a goal. Later we hardly created any chances.

“Naturally there is a path forward, especially with the quality players we have. Regardless if you win or lose when you look back you are always considering: ‘Where can we improve, in what aspects can we make changes?’ but that is something else from doubting your abilities.

“I wish to stress I am responsible for the present losses. You are responsible when you are winning but also responsible when you are defeated. I can not come up with sufficient excuses for us to have the results we have. That is not good enough and I am to blame for that.”

Liverpool’s display unravelled as the coach made multiple offensive substitutions when chasing the match. “It was the identical away at Forest the previous campaign,” he remarked. “I took Ibou [Ibrahima Konaté] out and brought on [Diogo] Jota and he found the net immediately to equalize at 1-1. At that time it was courageous, currently it’s probably stupid.”

Liverpool previously were defeated in back-to-back home league games by Nottingham 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. Competing on home soil, losing 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 opening half-hour perhaps the whole campaign, and the initial occasion they entered in our penalty area they found the back of the net.

“It wasn’t at City, but in every other game we have been the controlling team and were able to generate opportunities. Recently it is almost consistently that we fail to convert our opportunities and the ones we concede find the net.”