Liverpool's Manager Offers Zero Justifications and Pledges to Plot Route Out of Malaise
Liverpool's head coach declared he had to “look at myself” after the Reds endured a sixth defeat in seven Premier League matches on their own turf against Forest and insisted he would find a solution from the title holders' slump.
Nottingham Forest, in the relegation zone prior to the match, delivered the largest win at Anfield in their club records as Liverpool fell to an eighth defeat in eleven matches in all competitions. The British record signing, the Swedish striker, was again unnoticeable and Liverpool contended Murillo’s first goal ought to have been disallowed for similar reasons to Virgil van Dijk’s chalked-off goal against City prior to the international break. But Slot admitted the buck stopped with him and made no excuses.
“No one wishes to listen to me now speaking about refereeing decisions if you lose 3-0 in your own stadium to Nottingham Forest,” said the Liverpool head coach. “I ought to look at my own role first and my squad, but it does show you how a goal can change the momentum of a game. Earlier I was just hoping for us to score a goal. Later we hardly generated anything.
“Naturally there is a path forward, particularly with the quality footballers we have. Regardless if you triumph or are beaten when you look back you are always thinking: ‘In which areas can we do better, in what aspects can we adjust?’ but that is different from questioning yourself.
“I wish to stress I am responsible for the current defeats. You are answerable when you are victorious but also responsible when you are losing. I can never come up with enough reasons for us to have the results we have. That is far from acceptable and I am responsible for that.”
Liverpool’s display fell apart as the coach introduced several attacking substitutions when chasing the game. “It was the identical away at Nottingham Forest last season,” he said. “I substituted Ibou [Ibrahima Konaté] out and put on the Portuguese forward and he found the net immediately to equalize at 1-1. Then it was courageous, currently it’s likely unwise.”
Liverpool last lost two successive home Premier League fixtures against Forest in the sixties. The most recent occasion they suffered back-to-back top-flight games by a three-goal margin was in 1965.
Slot commented: “It was very bad. Playing on home soil, losing 3-0 regardless of which team you encounter is a terrible outcome. Unexpected if you consider the first half-hour of the match. I did not witness us creating so much in the opening 30 minutes maybe the whole campaign, and the initial occasion they entered in our box they scored.
“It wasn’t against Manchester City, but in every other game we have been the dominant side and were capable to generate opportunities. Recently it is almost consistently that we fail to convert our opportunities and the ones we concede go in.”