Liverpool's Manager Provides No Excuses and Vows to Find Way Out of Slump
Liverpool's head coach declared he needed to “examine my own performance” after the Reds endured a sixth loss in seven English top-flight games on their own turf to Forest and insisted he would find a way out of the champions’ slump.
Nottingham Forest, in the relegation zone prior to the match, produced the biggest win at Liverpool's stadium in their history as Liverpool fell to an eighth defeat in eleven fixtures in all competitions. The most expensive domestic acquisition, the Swedish striker, was once more anonymous and Liverpool argued the defender'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 rested with him and offered no alibis.
“No one wishes to listen to me now talking about refereeing decisions if you lose 3-0 in your own stadium to Nottingham Forest,” stated the Reds' boss. “I ought to examine myself first and my squad, but it does show you how a score can alter the momentum of a match. Before I was just hoping for us to score a strike. Later we hardly created anything.
“Naturally there is a way out, particularly with the talented players we have. Regardless if you win or are beaten when you look back you are always thinking: ‘Where can we improve, in what aspects can we make changes?’ but that is different from questioning yourself.
“I wish to emphasise I am accountable for the current losses. You are answerable when you are victorious but also responsible when you are defeated. 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 responsible for that.”
The team's display fell apart as Slot introduced multiple attacking changes when pursuing the game. “It was the same on the road at Nottingham Forest the previous campaign,” he remarked. “I substituted the French defender out and put on [Diogo] Jota and he scored immediately to equalize at 1-1. At that time it was brave, currently it’s likely stupid.”
Liverpool last lost back-to-back home Premier League fixtures against Nottingham Forest in 1963. The last time they lost back-to-back top-flight games by a three-goal scoreline was in the mid-60s.
The manager commented: “It was very bad. Playing at home, losing 3-0 regardless of which team you encounter is a very, very bad result. Unexpected if you look at the opening 30 minutes of the match. I did not witness us creating so many chances in the initial half-hour maybe the entire season, and the first time they entered in our penalty area they found the back of the net.
“It did not happen at City, but in every other game we have been the dominant side and were able to generate chances. Lately it is nearly consistently that we miss our opportunities and the attempts we concede go in.”