Liverpool's Manager Provides Zero Justifications and Vows to Find Way From Malaise
Liverpool's head coach stated he needed to “look at myself” after the Reds suffered a 6th loss in seven Premier League games on their own turf against Nottingham Forest and affirmed he would find a solution out of the champions’ poor run.
Nottingham Forest, fighting against the drop before kick off, delivered the biggest win at Anfield in their history as the Merseyside club slipped to an eighth loss in eleven fixtures in all competitions. The British record signing, Alexander Isak, was once more anonymous and Liverpool argued the defender's opener ought to have been ruled out for comparable grounds to the captain's chalked-off goal against City before the national team pause. But Slot conceded the responsibility rested with him and made no excuses.
“No one wishes 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 ought to examine myself first and my team, but it does show you how a goal can change the flow of a match. Earlier I was just waiting for us to score a strike. Afterwards we barely generated anything.
“Naturally there is a path forward, especially with the quality footballers we have. No matter if you win or are beaten when you look back you are always considering: ‘Where can we do better, where can we make changes?’ but that is something else from questioning yourself.
“I want to stress I am responsible for the current losses. You are answerable when you are winning but also liable when you are defeated. I can never come up with enough excuses for us to have the outcomes we have. That is far from good enough and I am to blame for that.”
Liverpool’s performance unravelled as Slot introduced multiple offensive substitutions when chasing the match. “It was the identical away at Nottingham Forest the previous campaign,” he remarked. “I substituted Ibou [Ibrahima Konaté] out and put on the Portuguese forward and he scored straight away to make it 1-1. At that time it was brave, currently it’s probably stupid.”
Liverpool previously were defeated in two successive at Anfield league fixtures against Nottingham Forest in 1963. The last time they lost consecutive top-flight matches by a 3-0 scoreline was in the mid-60s.
The manager said: “It was very bad. Playing on home soil, losing 3-0 no matter which opponent you face is a terrible outcome. Unexpected if you consider the first half-hour of the match. I did not witness us creating so much in the opening 30 minutes perhaps the whole season, and the first time they entered in our box they found the back of the net.
“It wasn’t at City, but in every other game we have been the dominant team and were capable to create opportunities. Recently it is almost consistently that we miss our chances and the ones we concede go in.”