🔗 Share this article

Liverpool's head coach declared he had to “look at myself” following the Reds suffered a sixth defeat in 7 Premier League games at home to Nottingham Forest and insisted he would discover a solution out of the champions’ poor run.

Nottingham Forest, fighting against the drop prior to the match, produced the biggest victory at Liverpool's stadium in their history as the Merseyside club slipped to an eighth defeat in 11 matches in every tournament. The British record signing, the Swedish striker, was again anonymous and Liverpool contended Murillo’s first goal should have been disallowed for comparable grounds to Virgil van Dijk’s disallowed effort versus City prior to the national team pause. But the manager admitted the responsibility rested with him and offered no alibis.

“No one wants to hear me now talking about refereeing decisions if you lose 3-0 at home to Forest,” said the Liverpool head coach. “I should look at myself initially and my squad, but it does show you how a goal can change the flow of a game. Before I was just waiting for us to score a goal. Later we hardly generated any chances.

“Naturally there is a way out, especially with the quality footballers we have. Regardless if you win or are beaten when you look back you are always thinking: ‘Where can we improve, in what aspects can we make changes?’ but that is something else from doubting your abilities.

“I wish to emphasise I am responsible for the present defeats. You are responsible when you are victorious but also liable when you are defeated. I can not provide sufficient reasons for us to have the outcomes we have. That is not acceptable and I am responsible for that.”

Liverpool’s performance fell apart as Slot introduced multiple attacking substitutions when pursuing the game. “It was the identical away at Nottingham Forest the previous campaign,” he said. “I substituted the French defender out and put on the Portuguese forward and he found the net immediately to equalize at 1-1. At that time it was brave, now it’s likely unwise.”

Liverpool previously were defeated in back-to-back at Anfield Premier League games by Nottingham Forest in 1963. The last time they lost consecutive top-flight games by a 3-0 margin was in 1965.

Slot said: “It was extremely poor. Playing at home, losing 3-0 no matter which opponent you face is a very, very bad result. Unexpected if you consider the first half-hour of the match. I haven’t seen us producing so much in the initial 30 minutes maybe the whole campaign, and the initial occasion they arrived in our box they found the back of the net.

“It wasn’t at City, but in every other game we have been the controlling side and were able to generate chances. Recently it is nearly consistently that we fail to convert our opportunities and the attempts we concede go in.”