Slot Provides No Excuses and Pledges to Find Route Out of Slump

Liverpool's head coach stated he needed to “examine my own performance” following Liverpool suffered a sixth defeat in seven English top-flight matches at home against Forest and affirmed he would discover a solution out of the title holders' poor run.

Nottingham Forest, in the relegation zone prior to the match, produced the biggest win at Liverpool's stadium in their history as the Merseyside club fell to an 8th defeat in eleven fixtures in every tournament. The most expensive domestic acquisition, the Swedish striker, was once more anonymous and the home side contended the defender's opener ought to have been disallowed for similar reasons to Virgil van Dijk’s disallowed effort against Manchester City prior to the national team pause. But Slot admitted the buck stopped with him and offered no alibis.

“No one wishes to hear me now talking about officiating calls if you are defeated 3-0 at home to Forest,” stated the Reds' boss. “I ought to look at myself first and my squad, but it does show you how a goal can alter the momentum of a game. Earlier I was just waiting for us to score a strike. Later we barely created any chances.

“Of course there is a way out, especially with the talented players we have. Regardless if you win or are beaten when you reflect you are always thinking: ‘In which areas can we improve, in what aspects can we adjust?’ but that is different from doubting your abilities.

“I wish to emphasise I am responsible for the present losses. You are responsible when you are winning but also responsible when you are losing. 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 performance unravelled as the coach introduced multiple offensive changes when chasing the game. “It was the identical on the road at Nottingham Forest the previous campaign,” he said. “I substituted Ibou [Ibrahima Konaté] off and brought on [Diogo] Jota and he found the net immediately to make it 1-1. Then it was courageous, currently it’s likely unwise.”

Liverpool last lost two successive at Anfield Premier League fixtures against Nottingham Forest in the sixties. The last time they suffered back-to-back league games by a three-goal scoreline was in 1965.

The manager commented: “It was extremely poor. Competing on home soil, conceding 3-0 regardless of which opponent you encounter is a terrible result. Unexpected if you look at the first half-hour of the match. I haven’t seen us producing so many chances in the initial 30 minutes maybe the whole season, and the first time they arrived in our box 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 chances. Recently it is nearly consistently that we miss our chances and the ones we allow find the net.”

Angela Gibson
Angela Gibson

Astrophysicist and space journalist with 15 years of experience covering orbital missions and celestial phenomena.