Slot Provides Zero Justifications and Pledges to Plot Route Out of Malaise
Arne Slot declared he needed to “examine my own performance” following Liverpool suffered a sixth loss in seven Premier League games on their own turf against Forest and insisted he would discover a way from the champions’ poor run.
Forest, fighting against the drop before kick off, produced the largest victory at Anfield in their history as Liverpool fell to an 8th defeat in eleven matches in all competitions. The British record signing, the Swedish striker, was again unnoticeable and Liverpool contended the defender's opener should have been ruled out for similar reasons to Virgil van Dijk’s chalked-off goal versus City before the international break. But Slot admitted the responsibility rested with him and made no excuses.
“Nobody wants to hear me now speaking about officiating calls if you lose 3-0 in your own stadium to Forest,” said the Reds' boss. “I should look at myself first and my squad, but it demonstrates you how a goal can alter the momentum of a game. Earlier I was just waiting for us to net a goal. Afterwards we barely created any chances.
“Of course there is a way out, particularly with the talented players we have. No matter if you win or are beaten when you reflect you are always thinking: ‘In which areas can we improve, where can we make changes?’ but that is something else from questioning yourself.
“I wish to stress I am accountable for the current losses. You are responsible when you are winning but also responsible when you are defeated. I can not provide sufficient reasons for us to have the outcomes we have. That is far from good enough and I am responsible for that.”
Liverpool’s performance fell apart as Slot introduced several offensive changes when chasing the match. “It was the same away at Nottingham Forest last season,” he remarked. “I took Ibou [Ibrahima Konaté] out and put on the Portuguese forward and he found the net straight away to make it 1-1. At that time it was courageous, now it’s likely stupid.”
Liverpool last lost two successive home Premier League fixtures by Nottingham Forest in 1963. The most recent occasion they suffered consecutive top-flight games by a three-goal scoreline was in the mid-60s.
The manager said: “It was very bad. Playing on home soil, conceding 3-0 regardless of which team you face is a terrible outcome. Unexpected if you consider the first half-hour of the match. I haven’t seen us producing so much in the opening half-hour maybe the whole campaign, and the first time they entered in our box they found the back of the net.
“It did not happen against Manchester City, but in all other fixture we have been the controlling team and were able to generate chances. Recently it is almost constantly that we fail to convert our chances and the ones we concede go in.”