Liverpool's Manager Provides No Excuses and Vows to Plot Way Out of Slump
Liverpool's head coach declared he had to “look at myself” after Liverpool suffered a 6th loss in 7 English top-flight games on their own turf against Nottingham Forest and insisted he would find a way from the title holders' slump.
Forest, fighting against the drop before kick off, produced the largest win at Liverpool's stadium in their club records as the Merseyside club slipped to an eighth defeat in eleven fixtures in every tournament. The British record signing, Alexander Isak, was again anonymous and the home side argued the defender's first goal should have been ruled out for similar reasons to Virgil van Dijk’s chalked-off goal versus City before the national team pause. But the manager admitted the buck stopped with him and offered no alibis.
“No one wishes to listen to me now speaking about officiating calls if you lose 3-0 in your own stadium to Forest,” said the Reds' boss. “I ought to examine myself first and my squad, but it demonstrates you how a score can change the flow of a game. Earlier I was just waiting for us to net a strike. Later we hardly generated anything.
“Of course there is a way out, especially with the talented footballers we have. Regardless if you win or lose when you look back you are always thinking: ‘Where can we do better, where can we adjust?’ but that is something else from questioning your abilities.
“I want to emphasise I am accountable for the current losses. You are responsible when you are victorious but also responsible when you are defeated. I can not come up with enough reasons for us to have the results we have. That is far from good enough and I am to blame for that.”
The team's performance fell apart as Slot made several offensive substitutions when pursuing the match. “It was the identical on the road at Forest the previous campaign,” he remarked. “I took Ibou [Ibrahima Konaté] off and brought on the Portuguese forward and he found the net straight away to make it 1-1. Then it was brave, now it’s probably unwise.”
Liverpool last lost back-to-back at Anfield league fixtures against Nottingham Forest in 1963. The last time they lost consecutive top-flight games by a three-goal scoreline was in the mid-60s.
The manager commented: “It was very bad. Playing on home soil, conceding 3-0 no matter which opponent you face is a terrible outcome. Unexpected if you consider the opening 30 minutes of the match. I did not witness us creating so many chances in the opening 30 minutes maybe the whole campaign, and the first time they entered in our box they scored.
“It did not happen against Manchester City, but in every other game we have been the controlling team and were capable to create chances. Recently it is nearly consistently that we miss our opportunities and the ones we concede find the net.”