Slot Provides No Excuses and Pledges to Find Way Out of Slump
Arne Slot stated he had to “examine my own performance” after the Reds endured a sixth defeat in seven Premier League games on their own turf against Nottingham Forest and affirmed he would discover a way from the title holders' poor run.
Nottingham Forest, fighting against the drop before kick off, produced the biggest win at Anfield in their history as the Merseyside club slipped to an eighth defeat in eleven fixtures in all competitions. The British record signing, the Swedish striker, was once more unnoticeable and Liverpool contended the defender's first goal should have been ruled out for similar reasons to Virgil van Dijk’s disallowed effort versus Manchester City prior to the national team pause. But Slot admitted the buck rested with him and offered no alibis.
“Nobody wants to listen to me now speaking about officiating calls if you lose 3-0 at home to Nottingham Forest,” stated the Liverpool head coach. “I should examine myself first and my team, but it does show you how a goal can alter the momentum of a game. Before I was just waiting for us to net a goal. Later we hardly created anything.
“Of course there is a way out, particularly with the quality players we have. Regardless if you win or lose when you reflect you are always considering: ‘In which areas can we improve, where can we make changes?’ but that is different from doubting your abilities.
“I want to emphasise I am accountable for the current losses. You are responsible when you are victorious but also responsible when you are defeated. I can never provide sufficient excuses for us to have the results we have. That is far from good enough and I am to blame for that.”
Liverpool’s performance fell apart as the coach introduced multiple attacking changes when pursuing the game. “It was the identical away at Forest the previous campaign,” he said. “I took Ibou [Ibrahima Konaté] off and brought on the Portuguese forward and he found the net immediately to equalize at 1-1. At that time it was brave, now it’s probably stupid.”
Liverpool previously were defeated in back-to-back at Anfield league fixtures by Forest in 1963. The last time they suffered back-to-back league matches by a 3-0 scoreline was in the mid-60s.
The manager commented: “It was very bad. Competing at home, conceding 3-0 regardless of which team you face is a terrible outcome. Surprising if you consider the first half-hour of the game. I did not witness us creating so many chances in the initial half-hour perhaps the entire campaign, and the initial occasion they entered in our box they scored.
“It wasn’t at City, but in every other fixture we have been the dominant team and were capable to create chances. Lately it is almost constantly that we miss our chances and the ones we concede go in.”