Liverpool's Manager Offers No Excuses and Pledges to Find Way From Slump

Arne Slot declared he had to “examine my own performance” after the Reds suffered a sixth loss in seven English top-flight games at home against Forest and insisted he would discover a solution from the champions’ slump.

Forest, fighting against the drop prior to the match, produced the largest win at Liverpool's stadium in their club records as Liverpool slipped to an eighth defeat in eleven matches in every tournament. The British record signing, Alexander Isak, was again unnoticeable and the home side argued Murillo’s first goal should have been ruled out for similar reasons to Virgil van Dijk’s chalked-off goal versus Manchester City prior to the international break. But the manager conceded the responsibility rested with him and made no excuses.

“Nobody wishes to hear me now talking about officiating calls if you are defeated 3-0 at home to Nottingham Forest,” said the Liverpool head coach. “I should examine myself first and my team, but it demonstrates you how a goal can alter the flow of a game. Before I was just waiting for us to score a goal. Afterwards we barely generated any chances.

“Of course there is a way out, particularly with the quality players we have. Regardless if you win or are beaten when you reflect you are always considering: ‘Where can we do better, where can we adjust?’ but that is something else from questioning yourself.

“I wish to emphasise I am accountable for the current losses. You are answerable when you are victorious but also liable when you are losing. I can not come up with enough excuses for us to have the results we have. That is far from good enough and I am responsible for that.”

The team's performance unravelled as Slot made several offensive substitutions when pursuing the game. “It was the identical on the road at Nottingham Forest the previous campaign,” he remarked. “I substituted the French defender out and put on the Portuguese forward and he scored straight away to make it 1-1. At that time it was brave, now it’s probably unwise.”

The Anfield side last lost back-to-back home league games against Nottingham Forest in 1963. The most recent occasion they suffered consecutive top-flight matches by a three-goal margin was in the mid-60s.

The manager commented: “It was extremely poor. Playing at home, losing 3-0 regardless of which team you encounter is a terrible result. Unexpected if you look at the opening 30 minutes of the match. I haven’t seen us producing so much in the opening 30 minutes perhaps the whole campaign, and the first time they arrived in our penalty area they found the back of the net.

“It did not happen at City, but in all other game we have been the controlling side and were able to create chances. Lately it is nearly consistently that we fail to convert our opportunities and the attempts we allow go in.”

Anne Davis
Anne Davis

A tech analyst with over a decade of experience in digital transformation and emerging technologies, passionate about demystifying complex tech trends.