Slot Offers No Excuses and Vows to Find Way From Slump
Liverpool's head coach declared he had to “examine my own performance” following Liverpool suffered a sixth defeat in seven English top-flight matches on their own turf to Nottingham Forest and insisted he would discover a way out of the title holders' slump.
Nottingham Forest, fighting against the drop before kick off, produced the biggest victory at Liverpool's stadium in their history as Liverpool slipped to an eighth defeat in 11 fixtures in every tournament. The most expensive domestic acquisition, Alexander Isak, was again unnoticeable and Liverpool argued Murillo’s opener ought to have been ruled out for comparable grounds to Virgil van Dijk’s chalked-off goal against Manchester City prior to the international break. But Slot conceded the responsibility stopped with him and made no excuses.
“No one wishes to hear me now talking about refereeing decisions if you are defeated 3-0 at home to Forest,” said the Reds' boss. “I ought to examine my own role initially and my team, but it demonstrates you how a score can alter the flow of a match. Earlier I was just waiting for us to score a goal. Later we barely generated anything.
“Naturally there is a way out, particularly with the talented players we have. No matter if you win or lose when you look back you are always thinking: ‘Where can we improve, where can we make changes?’ but that is something else from doubting yourself.
“I wish to stress I am responsible for the present losses. You are answerable when you are winning but also liable when you are losing. 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 performance unravelled as the coach introduced multiple offensive substitutions when chasing the game. “It was the identical on the road at Forest last season,” he remarked. “I substituted the French defender off and put on [Diogo] Jota and he scored straight away to make it 1-1. Then it was brave, now it’s likely stupid.”
Liverpool last lost back-to-back at Anfield Premier League fixtures against Nottingham Forest in 1963. The last time they suffered consecutive top-flight games by a 3-0 margin was in 1965.
Slot commented: “It was extremely poor. Playing at home, conceding 3-0 no matter which team you face is a terrible result. Surprising if you consider the first half-hour of the game. I haven’t seen us creating so many chances in the opening 30 minutes perhaps the entire campaign, and the initial occasion they entered in our penalty area they found the back of the net.
“It did not happen at City, but in all other fixture we have been the dominant team and were able to create chances. Recently it is nearly consistently that we miss our chances and the attempts we allow go in.”