Slot Provides No Excuses and Vows to Find Way Out of Slump
Liverpool's head coach declared he had to “look at myself” following the Reds endured a sixth loss in 7 Premier League matches on their own turf to Forest and insisted he would discover a solution out of the title holders' slump.
Forest, in the relegation zone prior to the match, produced the biggest victory at Liverpool's stadium in their history as the Merseyside club fell to an 8th defeat in eleven matches in all competitions. The most expensive domestic acquisition, Alexander Isak, was once more anonymous and the home side argued Murillo’s opener should have been disallowed for similar reasons to Virgil van Dijk’s disallowed effort versus Manchester City before the international break. But Slot conceded 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 at home to Forest,” stated the Reds' boss. “I ought to examine my own role first and my team, but it demonstrates you how a goal can alter the momentum of a match. Earlier I was just waiting for us to score a strike. Later we hardly created any chances.
“Naturally there is a way out, especially with the quality footballers we have. No matter if you win or are beaten when you reflect you are always thinking: ‘In which areas can we do better, in what aspects can we make changes?’ but that is something else from questioning your abilities.
“I want to emphasise I am responsible for the current defeats. You are responsible when you are winning but also liable when you are defeated. I can not provide sufficient excuses for us to have the results we have. That is far from acceptable and I am to blame for that.”
The team's display unravelled as the coach made several offensive changes when pursuing the game. “It was the same on the road at Forest the previous campaign,” he said. “I substituted Ibou [Ibrahima Konaté] out and brought on the Portuguese forward and he scored straight away to make it 1-1. At that time it was brave, now it’s probably unwise.”
Liverpool last lost two successive at Anfield Premier League fixtures against Nottingham Forest in 1963. The last time they suffered back-to-back top-flight matches by a 3-0 scoreline was in 1965.
Slot commented: “It was extremely poor. Playing at home, losing 3-0 no matter which team you encounter is a very, very bad result. Unexpected if you consider the first half-hour of the game. I haven’t seen us producing so many chances in the opening 30 minutes maybe the whole season, and the first time they entered in our penalty area they scored.
“It wasn’t against Manchester City, but in every other game we have been the dominant team and were capable to create opportunities. Recently it is nearly constantly that we fail to convert our opportunities and the attempts we concede go in.”