Liverpool's Manager Offers Zero Justifications and Vows to Find Route Out of Slump
Liverpool's head coach declared he needed to “look at myself” following the Reds endured a 6th loss in seven English top-flight games on their own turf against Nottingham Forest and insisted he would find a solution out of the champions’ poor run.
Forest, in the relegation zone before kick off, delivered the biggest victory at Anfield in their history as the Merseyside club slipped to an eighth loss in eleven matches in every tournament. The most expensive domestic acquisition, Alexander Isak, was once more unnoticeable and Liverpool argued the defender's first goal should have been disallowed for comparable grounds to the captain's chalked-off goal versus Manchester City prior to the national team pause. But the manager admitted the buck rested with him and made no excuses.
“Nobody wishes to hear me now speaking about refereeing decisions if you are defeated 3-0 in your own stadium to Nottingham Forest,” stated the Reds' boss. “I should examine my own role initially and my squad, but it demonstrates you how a score can change the momentum of a game. Earlier I was just waiting for us to score a strike. Later we barely generated anything.
“Naturally there is a path forward, especially with the talented players we have. Regardless if you win or lose when you look back you are always considering: ‘In which areas can we improve, where can we make changes?’ but that is something else from questioning your abilities.
“I wish to emphasise I am accountable for the current losses. You are answerable when you are victorious but also liable when you are defeated. I can not provide sufficient reasons for us to have the results we have. That is far from acceptable and I am responsible for that.”
Liverpool’s display unravelled as Slot made several offensive changes when chasing the match. “It was the same away at Forest the previous campaign,” he said. “I substituted Ibou [Ibrahima Konaté] off and put on [Diogo] Jota and he scored immediately to equalize at 1-1. Then it was courageous, currently it’s probably unwise.”
The Anfield side last lost two successive at Anfield Premier League fixtures against Forest in the sixties. The most recent occasion they suffered back-to-back top-flight matches by a three-goal margin was in 1965.
The manager said: “It was very bad. Competing at home, conceding 3-0 no matter which opponent you face is a terrible outcome. Surprising if you consider the opening 30 minutes of the match. I did not witness us creating so much in the opening half-hour maybe the entire campaign, and the initial occasion they arrived in our penalty area they scored.
“It did not happen at City, but in every 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 opportunities and the ones we allow go in.”