Liverpool's Manager Offers No Excuses and Pledges to Plot Route Out of Malaise
Arne Slot stated he needed to “look at myself” following Liverpool endured a 6th loss in 7 English top-flight games at home to Nottingham Forest and affirmed he would discover a way out of the champions’ poor run.
Nottingham Forest, fighting against the drop prior to the match, delivered the biggest win at Anfield in their club records as Liverpool slipped to an 8th defeat in 11 matches in all competitions. The British record signing, the Swedish striker, was once more unnoticeable and the home side argued the defender's first goal should have been disallowed for similar reasons to Virgil van Dijk’s chalked-off goal versus City prior to the international break. But the manager conceded the responsibility stopped with him and made no excuses.
“No one wishes to listen to me now talking about officiating calls if you lose 3-0 in your own stadium to Forest,” said the Reds' boss. “I should look at myself first and my squad, but it does show you how a score can change the momentum of a game. Earlier I was just waiting for us to score a goal. Later we hardly generated any chances.
“Naturally there is a path forward, especially with the quality players we have. No matter if you triumph or lose when you reflect you are always considering: ‘Where can we do better, where can we make changes?’ but that is different from doubting yourself.
“I wish to emphasise I am accountable for the current losses. You are responsible when you are winning but also responsible when you are defeated. I can not provide sufficient reasons for us to have the outcomes we have. That is not good enough and I am responsible for that.”
Liverpool’s performance unravelled as Slot introduced multiple offensive substitutions when chasing the match. “It was the same on the road at Forest the previous campaign,” he remarked. “I took the French defender out and brought on the Portuguese forward and he found the net straight away to equalize at 1-1. Then it was courageous, now it’s likely stupid.”
Liverpool previously were defeated in back-to-back at Anfield league fixtures against Nottingham Forest in the sixties. The most recent occasion they lost consecutive top-flight games by a three-goal scoreline was in the mid-60s.
Slot said: “It was extremely poor. Competing at home, losing 3-0 no matter which team you face is a very, very bad result. Unexpected if you consider the first half-hour of the match. I did not witness us producing so many chances in the opening half-hour maybe the whole season, and the initial occasion they entered in our penalty area they scored.
“It wasn’t against Manchester City, but in all other fixture we have been the dominant side and were able to create opportunities. Recently it is almost consistently that we fail to convert our opportunities and the ones we concede go in.”