Slot Offers No Excuses and Pledges to Find Way Out of Malaise
Liverpool's head coach declared he had to “look at myself” following the Reds endured a sixth defeat in 7 Premier League matches at home against Forest and insisted he would discover a way out of the title holders' poor run.
Nottingham Forest, fighting against the drop prior to the match, delivered the largest win at Liverpool's stadium in their history as the Merseyside club fell to an 8th loss in 11 fixtures in all competitions. The most expensive domestic acquisition, Alexander Isak, was again anonymous and Liverpool argued Murillo’s opener should have been ruled out for similar reasons to the captain's disallowed effort versus City before the national team pause. But the manager admitted the responsibility stopped with him and offered no alibis.
“No one wishes to listen to me now speaking about refereeing decisions if you lose 3-0 at home to Forest,” stated the Liverpool head coach. “I ought to look at myself initially and my squad, but it does show you how a score can alter the flow of a game. Before I was just hoping for us to score a strike. Later we barely created anything.
“Naturally there is a path forward, particularly with the talented players we have. No matter if you win or lose when you look back you are always thinking: ‘Where can we improve, where can we make changes?’ but that is different from doubting yourself.
“I want to stress I am responsible for the present losses. You are responsible when you are victorious but also responsible when you are losing. I can not come up with sufficient excuses for us to have the outcomes we have. That is far from acceptable and I am responsible for that.”
Liverpool’s display fell apart as the coach made multiple attacking substitutions when chasing the game. “It was the same on the road at Nottingham Forest last season,” he remarked. “I substituted Ibou [Ibrahima Konaté] off and brought on the Portuguese forward and he found the net immediately to make it 1-1. At that time it was courageous, currently it’s probably stupid.”
Liverpool last lost two successive home league fixtures against Forest in 1963. The last time they lost consecutive league matches by a three-goal margin was in the mid-60s.
Slot said: “It was very bad. Competing at home, conceding 3-0 regardless of which opponent you encounter is a terrible outcome. Unexpected if you look at the opening 30 minutes of the match. I did not witness us creating so many chances in the initial half-hour perhaps the entire campaign, and the first time they entered 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. Lately it is nearly constantly that we miss our opportunities and the ones we allow go in.”