Slot Provides No Excuses and Vows to Plot Way Out of Malaise
Liverpool's head coach declared he had to “examine my own performance” after Liverpool suffered a 6th defeat in 7 Premier League games on their own turf to Forest and insisted he would find a way out of the title holders' slump.
Forest, fighting against the drop before kick off, delivered the biggest win at Liverpool's stadium in their club records as Liverpool slipped to an 8th defeat in eleven fixtures in every tournament. The British record signing, the Swedish striker, was again anonymous and Liverpool contended the defender's opener ought to 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 buck rested with him and offered no alibis.
“Nobody wants to hear me now talking about refereeing decisions if you lose 3-0 at home to Forest,” stated the Liverpool head coach. “I should look at my own role first and my team, but it does show you how a score can alter the flow of a match. Before I was just hoping for us to score a strike. Afterwards we barely generated anything.
“Of course there is a path forward, particularly with the talented footballers we have. Regardless if you win or are beaten when you look back you are always thinking: ‘Where can we do better, where can we adjust?’ but that is something else from doubting yourself.
“I want to emphasise I am accountable for the current losses. You are answerable when you are winning but also responsible when you are defeated. I can not come up with enough reasons for us to have the outcomes we have. That is not good enough and I am to blame for that.”
Liverpool’s display unravelled as the coach introduced multiple offensive changes when pursuing the match. “It was the same on the road at Forest last season,” he remarked. “I substituted Ibou [Ibrahima Konaté] off and brought on [Diogo] Jota and he found the net straight away to equalize at 1-1. At that time it was brave, now it’s likely stupid.”
Liverpool last lost back-to-back at Anfield league games by Nottingham Forest in 1963. The last time they suffered consecutive league matches by a 3-0 scoreline was in the mid-60s.
The manager said: “It was extremely poor. Competing on home soil, conceding 3-0 regardless of which opponent you encounter is a very, very bad result. Surprising if you consider the opening 30 minutes of the match. I did not witness us producing so many chances in the opening 30 minutes perhaps the entire campaign, and the first time they arrived in our box they found the back of the net.
“It wasn’t against Manchester City, but in every other game we have been the dominant team and were able to create chances. Recently it is nearly constantly that we miss our chances and the ones we concede go in.”