Liverpool's Manager Offers No Excuses and Vows to Plot Way From Slump
Liverpool's head coach stated he had to “look at myself” after Liverpool endured a sixth loss in seven Premier League games at home to Forest and affirmed he would discover a way from the title holders' poor run.
Nottingham Forest, in the relegation zone prior to the match, produced the largest win at Anfield in their club records as Liverpool slipped to an eighth defeat in eleven fixtures in every tournament. The most expensive domestic acquisition, Alexander Isak, was again unnoticeable and the home side argued the defender's first goal ought to have been ruled out for similar reasons to Virgil van Dijk’s chalked-off goal versus City prior to the national team pause. But Slot admitted the buck stopped with him and offered no alibis.
“Nobody wants to hear me now talking about refereeing decisions if you lose 3-0 at home to Forest,” said the Reds' boss. “I ought to examine my own role first and my team, but it does show you how a goal can change the flow of a match. Earlier I was just waiting for us to net a strike. Afterwards we barely generated anything.
“Naturally there is a path forward, particularly with the quality players we have. Regardless if you triumph or lose when you look back you are always thinking: ‘Where can we do better, in what aspects can we make changes?’ but that is different from doubting your abilities.
“I wish to emphasise I am responsible for the present defeats. You are responsible when you are victorious but also liable when you are losing. I can not come up with sufficient excuses for us to have the results we have. That is far from good enough and I am responsible for that.”
Liverpool’s display unravelled as the coach made several attacking substitutions when chasing the match. “It was the same on the road at Forest the previous campaign,” he remarked. “I took Ibou [Ibrahima Konaté] off and put on [Diogo] Jota and he scored straight away to equalize at 1-1. At that time it was brave, now it’s probably stupid.”
The Anfield side previously were defeated in back-to-back at Anfield Premier League games against Nottingham Forest in the sixties. The last time they suffered back-to-back league games by a three-goal scoreline was in 1965.
The manager said: “It was very bad. Playing at home, conceding 3-0 no matter which team you face is a very, very bad outcome. Unexpected if you look at the opening 30 minutes of the match. I haven’t seen us creating so much in the initial half-hour maybe the entire campaign, and the initial occasion they arrived in our penalty area they scored.
“It wasn’t against Manchester City, but in every other game we have been the controlling team and were able to create chances. Lately it is nearly consistently that we miss our chances and the ones we concede go in.”