Liverpool's Manager Provides No Excuses and Vows to Plot Way From Slump
Arne Slot stated he needed to “examine my own performance” after Liverpool endured a sixth loss in seven Premier League matches on their own turf against Forest and insisted he would find a solution from the champions’ poor run.
Forest, in the relegation zone prior to the match, produced the biggest victory at Anfield in their club records as Liverpool slipped to an eighth loss in eleven matches in every tournament. The most expensive domestic acquisition, Alexander Isak, was once more anonymous and Liverpool contended the defender's opener ought to have been ruled out for comparable grounds to Virgil van Dijk’s disallowed effort against Manchester City before the international break. But the manager conceded the buck rested with him and offered no alibis.
“Nobody wishes to listen to me now talking about refereeing decisions if you lose 3-0 at home to Forest,” said the Reds' boss. “I ought to look at myself initially and my squad, but it does show you how a score can change the momentum of a match. Earlier I was just waiting for us to score a strike. Afterwards we hardly generated anything.
“Of course there is a way out, especially with the quality footballers we have. Regardless if you triumph or are beaten when you reflect you are always considering: ‘In which areas can we improve, where can we make changes?’ but that is different from questioning your abilities.
“I wish to stress I am responsible for the current losses. You are answerable when you are winning but also responsible when you are defeated. I can not provide enough excuses for us to have the results we have. That is not acceptable and I am to blame for that.”
The team's performance unravelled as Slot made multiple attacking substitutions when pursuing the game. “It was the same away at Forest last season,” he said. “I substituted Ibou [Ibrahima Konaté] out 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 previously were defeated in two successive home league games against Forest in the sixties. The most recent occasion they suffered back-to-back league games by a three-goal margin was in the mid-60s.
The manager commented: “It was extremely poor. Competing on home soil, losing 3-0 no matter which opponent you face is a terrible result. Unexpected if you look at the first half-hour of the game. I did not witness us producing so much in the initial 30 minutes perhaps the whole campaign, and the initial occasion they entered in our penalty area they found the back of the net.
“It wasn’t against Manchester City, but in every other game we have been the controlling team and were capable to create opportunities. Recently it is almost consistently that we fail to convert our chances and the ones we concede find the net.”