Liverpool's Manager Offers No Excuses and Pledges to Find Way From Malaise

Arne Slot stated he needed to “look at myself” following the Reds suffered a sixth loss in 7 Premier League matches on their own turf to Nottingham Forest and insisted he would discover a way from the champions’ slump.

Forest, in the relegation zone before kick off, delivered the largest victory 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 Liverpool argued Murillo’s first goal should have been disallowed for similar reasons to Virgil van Dijk’s chalked-off goal against City prior to the international break. But Slot conceded the buck rested with him and made no excuses.

“No one wishes to listen to me now speaking about refereeing decisions if you lose 3-0 at home to Forest,” said the Reds' boss. “I ought to look at my own role initially and my squad, but it does show you how a score can alter the flow of a match. Before I was just waiting for us to net a goal. Afterwards we barely created anything.

“Of course there is a way out, especially with the quality players we have. No matter if you win or are beaten when you look back you are always thinking: ‘Where can we do better, in what aspects can we adjust?’ but that is different from doubting yourself.

“I want to emphasise I am responsible for the current defeats. You are responsible when you are winning but also responsible when you are losing. I can not come up with sufficient reasons for us to have the outcomes we have. That is far from good enough and I am responsible for that.”

Liverpool’s display unravelled as the coach made multiple offensive substitutions when pursuing the game. “It was the identical away at Forest the previous campaign,” he said. “I substituted the French defender off and put on [Diogo] Jota and he scored immediately to make it 1-1. At that time it was brave, currently it’s likely stupid.”

Liverpool previously were defeated in two successive at Anfield league games against Nottingham Forest in 1963. The last time they suffered consecutive league matches by a 3-0 scoreline was in 1965.

Slot said: “It was very bad. Playing at home, losing 3-0 no matter which team you encounter is a terrible result. Unexpected if you look at the opening 30 minutes of the match. I did not witness us creating so much in the opening half-hour perhaps the entire campaign, and the first time they arrived in our box they scored.

“It did not happen against Manchester City, but in every other fixture we have been the controlling side and were able to generate opportunities. Recently it is nearly consistently that we fail to convert our opportunities and the ones we concede go in.”

Christie Adams
Christie Adams

A former casino manager turned gambling analyst, specializing in slot machine mechanics and responsible gaming practices.