Slot Offers No Excuses and Vows to Plot Route From Slump

Arne Slot declared he needed to “examine my own performance” after the Reds suffered a sixth loss in 7 English top-flight matches at home to Nottingham Forest and affirmed he would find a solution from the champions’ poor run.

Forest, in the relegation zone before kick off, produced the biggest win at Liverpool's stadium in their history as the Merseyside club slipped to an 8th defeat in 11 fixtures in all competitions. The British record signing, Alexander Isak, was again anonymous and Liverpool argued Murillo’s opener should have been disallowed for similar reasons to the captain's chalked-off goal against Manchester City prior to the international break. But Slot conceded the buck stopped with him and made no excuses.

“Nobody wants to listen to me now talking about officiating calls if you lose 3-0 at home to Nottingham Forest,” said the Reds' boss. “I ought to examine myself first and my team, but it demonstrates you how a score can change the momentum of a game. Before I was just hoping for us to net a strike. Afterwards we hardly created anything.

“Of course there is a path forward, particularly with the quality players we have. Regardless if you win or are beaten when you look back you are always thinking: ‘In which areas can we improve, where can we make changes?’ but that is something else from questioning your abilities.

“I wish to emphasise I am accountable for the present defeats. You are responsible when you are victorious but also responsible when you are defeated. I can not come up with enough reasons for us to have the outcomes we have. That is not good enough and I am responsible for that.”

Liverpool’s display fell apart as the coach introduced multiple offensive substitutions when chasing the match. “It was the identical on the road at Nottingham Forest last season,” he said. “I substituted the French defender off and brought on the Portuguese forward and he scored straight away to make it 1-1. Then it was courageous, now it’s likely unwise.”

Liverpool previously were defeated in two successive at Anfield Premier League games by Forest in 1963. The most recent occasion they suffered back-to-back top-flight matches by a three-goal margin was in 1965.

Slot commented: “It was very bad. Playing at home, losing 3-0 no matter which opponent you face is a very, very bad outcome. Surprising if you look at the opening 30 minutes of the match. I did not witness us producing so many chances in the opening half-hour maybe the entire season, and the first time they entered in our box they found the back of the net.

“It wasn’t against Manchester City, but in every other fixture we have been the dominant team and were able to create opportunities. Lately it is almost consistently that we fail to convert our chances and the ones we concede find the net.”

Kimberly Arellano
Kimberly Arellano

Lena is a travel writer and urban enthusiast with a passion for uncovering hidden gems in cities across the globe.