Slot Provides Zero Justifications and Vows to Find Route From Slump
Liverpool's head coach declared he needed to “examine my own performance” following the Reds endured a sixth loss in seven Premier League matches at home against Nottingham Forest and affirmed he would discover a solution out of the title holders' poor run.
Forest, in the relegation zone before kick off, produced the largest victory at Liverpool's stadium in their club records as Liverpool fell to an 8th defeat in 11 fixtures in all competitions. The British record signing, Alexander Isak, was again unnoticeable and Liverpool contended the defender's opener should have been disallowed for comparable grounds to Virgil van Dijk’s disallowed effort against City prior to the national team pause. But the manager conceded the buck stopped with him and made no excuses.
“No one wants to hear me now speaking about refereeing decisions if you are defeated 3-0 at home to Forest,” stated the Reds' boss. “I should look at my own role initially and my squad, but it demonstrates you how a score can alter the flow of a match. Before I was just hoping for us to score a goal. Later we hardly created any chances.
“Naturally there is a path forward, particularly with the quality footballers we have. Regardless if you triumph 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 wish to stress I am responsible for the present defeats. You are responsible when you are winning but also liable when you are defeated. I can never 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 performance fell apart as Slot introduced multiple attacking substitutions when pursuing the match. “It was the identical on the road at Forest last season,” he said. “I substituted the French defender out and put on [Diogo] Jota and he scored immediately to equalize at 1-1. Then it was brave, now it’s likely stupid.”
The Anfield side last lost two successive at Anfield Premier League fixtures against Nottingham Forest in the sixties. The last time they lost back-to-back league games by a 3-0 margin was in 1965.
Slot commented: “It was very bad. Playing at home, losing 3-0 regardless of which opponent you face is a very, very bad result. Unexpected if you look at the opening 30 minutes of the game. I did not witness us producing so much in the opening 30 minutes perhaps the whole season, and the first time they entered in our penalty area they scored.
“It wasn’t against Manchester City, but in every other fixture we have been the dominant team and were able to create chances. Lately it is almost consistently that we miss our opportunities and the attempts we allow go in.”