Slot Provides No Excuses and Vows to Find Route Out of Malaise

Arne Slot declared he had to “examine my own performance” following the Reds suffered a sixth defeat in seven Premier League games at home to Forest and affirmed he would find a way from the title holders' slump.

Forest, fighting against the drop before kick off, produced the largest victory at Liverpool's stadium in their club records as the Merseyside club slipped to an 8th defeat in eleven fixtures in all competitions. The British record signing, Alexander Isak, was once more anonymous and the home side contended the defender's opener should have been ruled out for similar reasons to Virgil van Dijk’s chalked-off goal versus City prior to the national team pause. But Slot admitted the buck stopped with him and made no excuses.

“No one wishes to listen to me now speaking about refereeing decisions if you lose 3-0 in your own stadium to Nottingham Forest,” said the Liverpool head coach. “I ought to look at myself initially and my team, but it does show you how a goal can change the momentum of a match. Earlier I was just waiting for us to score a strike. Afterwards we barely created anything.

“Naturally there is a way out, especially with the quality players we have. No matter if you triumph or lose when you look back you are always considering: ‘In which areas can we do better, in what aspects can we adjust?’ but that is something else from questioning your abilities.

“I want to stress I am responsible for the current defeats. You are answerable when you are winning but also responsible when you are losing. I can never provide sufficient reasons for us to have the outcomes we have. That is not acceptable and I am responsible for that.”

Liverpool’s display unravelled as the coach introduced several offensive changes when pursuing the game. “It was the same away at Forest the previous campaign,” he remarked. “I substituted the French defender out and put on the Portuguese forward and he found the net straight away to make it 1-1. Then it was brave, currently it’s probably unwise.”

Liverpool previously were defeated in two successive at Anfield Premier League fixtures by Forest in the sixties. The most recent occasion they lost consecutive league games by a 3-0 scoreline was in 1965.

Slot said: “It was extremely poor. Competing at home, losing 3-0 no matter which team you encounter is a very, very bad outcome. Surprising if you look at the first half-hour of the match. I haven’t seen us producing so many chances in the opening 30 minutes maybe the entire campaign, and the first time they arrived in our box they found the back of the net.

“It did not happen against Manchester City, but in every other fixture we have been the dominant side and were capable to create opportunities. Recently it is nearly constantly that we miss our opportunities and the ones we allow go in.”

Jeanette Morrison
Jeanette Morrison

A passionate gamer and tech enthusiast with over a decade of experience in reviewing and analyzing the latest video games and gaming hardware.