Liverpool's Manager Provides No Excuses and Vows to Find Way From Malaise
Arne Slot declared he needed to “look at myself” after the Reds endured a 6th loss in 7 English top-flight matches on their own turf to Forest and affirmed he would find a solution from the champions’ poor run.
Nottingham Forest, fighting against the drop prior to the match, produced the largest win at Anfield in their history as Liverpool fell to an eighth defeat in 11 fixtures in all competitions. The most expensive domestic acquisition, the Swedish striker, was again unnoticeable and the home side argued the defender's first goal ought to have been disallowed for similar reasons to the captain's chalked-off goal versus City prior to the national team pause. But the manager admitted the responsibility stopped with him and made no excuses.
“No one wants to listen to me now speaking about officiating calls if you are defeated 3-0 at home to Forest,” said the Reds' boss. “I ought to examine myself initially and my squad, but it demonstrates you how a goal can alter the momentum of a match. Earlier I was just waiting for us to net a strike. Later we hardly created any chances.
“Of course there is a way out, especially with the quality players we have. No matter if you triumph or are beaten when you look back you are always considering: ‘In which areas can we do better, where can we make changes?’ but that is different from questioning your abilities.
“I want to emphasise I am responsible for the present defeats. You are answerable when you are winning but also responsible when you are defeated. I can not come up with sufficient reasons for us to have the results we have. That is far from acceptable and I am to blame for that.”
The team's performance unravelled as Slot made multiple offensive changes when pursuing the match. “It was the identical on the road at Nottingham Forest the previous campaign,” he said. “I took Ibou [Ibrahima Konaté] off and brought on the Portuguese forward and he scored straight away to make it 1-1. At that time it was brave, currently it’s probably unwise.”
The Anfield side previously were defeated in two successive at Anfield Premier League fixtures by Nottingham Forest in the sixties. The most recent occasion they lost consecutive league matches by a 3-0 margin was in the mid-60s.
Slot said: “It was very bad. Competing on home soil, losing 3-0 regardless of which opponent you encounter is a terrible outcome. Surprising if you consider the opening 30 minutes of the game. I haven’t seen us creating so much in the initial half-hour perhaps the entire season, and the first time they arrived in our penalty area 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 opportunities. Lately it is almost constantly that we fail to convert our chances and the attempts we concede go in.”