Liverpool's head coach declared he needed to “examine my own performance” after the Reds suffered a 6th defeat in seven Premier League games at home to Forest and insisted he would discover a way from the title holders' slump.
Nottingham Forest, in the relegation zone before kick off, produced the biggest victory at Liverpool's stadium in their history as Liverpool slipped to an eighth defeat in 11 matches in every tournament. The most expensive domestic acquisition, the Swedish striker, was again anonymous and Liverpool argued the defender's first goal should have been disallowed for similar reasons to Virgil van Dijk’s disallowed effort versus Manchester City prior to the international break. But Slot admitted the responsibility rested with him and made no excuses.
“No one wishes to hear me now speaking about refereeing decisions if you are defeated 3-0 at home to Forest,” said the Reds' boss. “I should look at myself initially and my team, but it demonstrates you how a score can alter the momentum of a game. Before I was just waiting for us to score a strike. Later we barely created any chances.
“Of course there is a path forward, especially with the talented footballers we have. Regardless if you win or are beaten when you reflect you are always thinking: ‘Where can we improve, where can we make changes?’ but that is something else from questioning yourself.
“I wish to emphasise I am responsible for the current losses. You are responsible when you are winning but also responsible when you are defeated. I can never provide enough reasons for us to have the results we have. That is not good enough and I am to blame for that.”
The team's performance fell apart as Slot introduced multiple attacking changes when chasing the game. “It was the same on the road at Nottingham Forest last season,” he remarked. “I took the French defender out and brought on [Diogo] Jota and he scored immediately to make it 1-1. At that time it was courageous, now it’s likely stupid.”
Liverpool last lost two successive at Anfield Premier League games by Nottingham Forest in the sixties. The most recent occasion they lost consecutive top-flight games by a 3-0 scoreline was in 1965.
Slot commented: “It was extremely poor. Playing on home soil, conceding 3-0 no matter which team you encounter is a terrible 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 maybe the whole campaign, and the first time they entered in our box they found the back of the net.
“It wasn’t against Manchester City, but in all other game we have been the controlling team and were capable to create chances. Recently it is almost constantly that we miss our chances and the ones we allow find the net.”
