Slot Provides No Excuses and Vows to Plot Route From Slump
Liverpool's head coach stated he needed to “examine my own performance” after the Reds suffered a 6th loss in 7 English top-flight games on their own turf against Forest and affirmed he would discover a way out of the champions’ slump.
Forest, fighting against the drop before kick off, delivered the largest victory at Liverpool's stadium in their history as the Merseyside club fell to an eighth loss in eleven matches in all competitions. The British record signing, the Swedish striker, was once more unnoticeable and Liverpool contended the defender's opener ought to have been disallowed for similar reasons to the captain's disallowed effort against Manchester City prior to the national team pause. But the manager conceded the responsibility rested with him and offered no alibis.
“No one wishes to listen to me now talking about officiating calls if you lose 3-0 in your own stadium to Forest,” stated the Reds' boss. “I ought to examine my own role initially and my team, but it does show you how a score can change the flow of a match. Before I was just hoping for us to score a strike. Afterwards we barely generated any chances.
“Naturally there is a way out, especially with the quality players we have. Regardless if you win or are beaten when you look back you are always considering: ‘Where can we do better, where can we adjust?’ but that is something else from questioning your abilities.
“I want to emphasise I am responsible for the present losses. You are responsible when you are winning but also responsible when you are defeated. I can not provide enough reasons for us to have the results we have. That is far from acceptable and I am responsible for that.”
The team's performance fell apart as Slot made multiple attacking substitutions when chasing the game. “It was the same on the road at Nottingham Forest the previous campaign,” he remarked. “I substituted Ibou [Ibrahima Konaté] off and brought on [Diogo] Jota and he found the net straight away to equalize at 1-1. Then it was brave, now it’s likely unwise.”
Liverpool last lost two successive home league games by Nottingham Forest in 1963. The last time they suffered back-to-back top-flight matches by a 3-0 scoreline was in 1965.
The manager said: “It was extremely poor. Competing at home, losing 3-0 no matter which opponent you face is a terrible outcome. Unexpected if you look at the opening 30 minutes of the match. I did not witness us producing so much in the opening half-hour maybe the entire season, and the first time they arrived in our penalty area they scored.
“It wasn’t at City, but in every other game we have been the controlling team and were capable to generate opportunities. Recently it is almost consistently that we miss our chances and the ones we allow go in.”
