🔗 Share this article

Liverpool's head coach declared he had to “examine my own performance” following the Reds suffered a sixth defeat in seven English top-flight games at home to Forest and insisted he would discover a way from the champions’ slump.

Forest, fighting against the drop before kick off, produced the biggest win at Anfield in their history as Liverpool fell to an 8th loss in eleven fixtures in all competitions. The most expensive domestic acquisition, Alexander Isak, was once more unnoticeable and the home side argued the defender's first goal ought to have been disallowed for comparable grounds to Virgil van Dijk’s disallowed effort versus Manchester City prior to the national team pause. But the manager admitted the responsibility stopped with him and offered no alibis.

“No one wants to hear me now talking about officiating calls if you are defeated 3-0 at home to Forest,” stated the Reds' boss. “I should look at myself initially and my team, but it does show you how a goal can change the momentum of a match. Before I was just waiting for us to score a goal. Later we hardly generated anything.

“Of course there is a path forward, particularly with the quality players we have. No matter if you triumph or lose when you look back you are always considering: ‘In which areas can we improve, in what aspects can we make changes?’ but that is something else from doubting yourself.

“I want to stress I am accountable for the present losses. You are answerable when you are winning but also liable when you are losing. I can never provide sufficient reasons for us to have the outcomes we have. That is far from acceptable and I am responsible for that.”

The team's performance unravelled as the coach introduced multiple offensive substitutions when pursuing the game. “It was the same away at Forest the previous campaign,” he said. “I substituted the French defender out and put on the Portuguese forward and he scored straight away to make it 1-1. Then it was brave, now it’s likely unwise.”

Liverpool last lost two successive at Anfield Premier League fixtures against Forest in the sixties. The most recent occasion they suffered consecutive top-flight games by a 3-0 margin was in 1965.

Slot commented: “It was very bad. Competing at home, conceding 3-0 no matter which opponent you face is a very, very bad outcome. Surprising if you consider the first half-hour of the match. I did not witness us creating so many chances in the opening 30 minutes maybe the whole season, and the initial occasion they arrived in our penalty area they found the back of the net.

“It did not happen at City, but in every other fixture we have been the controlling side and were capable to create opportunities. Recently it is almost constantly that we miss our opportunities and the ones we allow find the net.”