Slot Provides Zero Justifications and Pledges to Find Route Out of Malaise
Arne Slot declared he had to “look at myself” following Liverpool suffered a sixth defeat in seven Premier League matches at home against Nottingham Forest and insisted he would discover a way from the champions’ poor run.
Nottingham Forest, in the relegation zone prior to the match, produced the largest win at Anfield in their club records as Liverpool slipped to an 8th defeat in eleven matches in all competitions. The most expensive domestic acquisition, the Swedish striker, was again unnoticeable and Liverpool argued the defender's first goal should have been ruled out for comparable grounds to the captain's disallowed effort against Manchester City prior to the international break. But the manager conceded the buck stopped with him and made no excuses.
“Nobody wants to hear me now talking about refereeing decisions if you are defeated 3-0 in your own stadium to Forest,” said the Liverpool head coach. “I ought to look at myself initially and my team, but it does show you how a score can change the flow of a game. Before I was just hoping for us to net a strike. Later we hardly generated any chances.
“Of course there is a path forward, especially with the quality players we have. No matter if you win or are beaten when you look back you are always thinking: ‘Where can we do better, where can we make changes?’ but that is different from doubting your abilities.
“I want to emphasise I am responsible for the current defeats. You are responsible when you are victorious but also responsible when you are losing. I can never come up with sufficient excuses for us to have the results we have. That is far from good enough and I am responsible for that.”
The team's display fell apart as the coach introduced several offensive substitutions when chasing the game. “It was the identical away at Nottingham Forest last season,” he remarked. “I substituted the French defender out and put on [Diogo] Jota and he scored immediately to equalize at 1-1. Then it was brave, currently it’s probably stupid.”
The Anfield side previously were defeated in two successive at Anfield Premier League fixtures against Nottingham Forest in the sixties. The most recent occasion they lost consecutive league matches by a three-goal margin was in the mid-60s.
Slot commented: “It was extremely poor. Playing at home, losing 3-0 regardless of which opponent you encounter is a very, very bad outcome. Unexpected if you look at the opening 30 minutes of the match. I did not witness us creating so much in the opening half-hour perhaps the entire campaign, and the first time they entered in our box they found the back of the net.
“It did not happen against Manchester City, but in all other game we have been the controlling team and were able to create chances. Lately it is nearly constantly that we fail to convert our chances and the attempts we allow go in.”