Liverpool's Manager Provides Zero Justifications and Pledges to Find Route From Malaise
Arne Slot declared he needed to “examine my own performance” after Liverpool endured a 6th defeat in 7 Premier League matches on their own turf against Nottingham Forest and affirmed he would discover a solution from the champions’ poor run.
Nottingham Forest, in the relegation zone prior to the match, delivered the biggest victory at Anfield in their history as the Merseyside club fell to an 8th loss in 11 fixtures in every tournament. The British record signing, the Swedish striker, was once more unnoticeable and Liverpool argued Murillo’s first goal ought to have been disallowed for comparable grounds to the captain's disallowed effort against City before the national team pause. But the manager admitted the buck stopped with him and offered no alibis.
“Nobody wishes to listen to me now speaking about officiating calls if you lose 3-0 in your own stadium to Nottingham Forest,” said the Liverpool head coach. “I ought to look at my own role initially and my squad, but it demonstrates you how a score can alter the flow of a match. Before I was just hoping for us to net a goal. Later we hardly generated any chances.
“Of course there is a path forward, especially with the talented footballers we have. Regardless if you triumph or are beaten when you reflect you are always thinking: ‘Where can we improve, where can we make changes?’ but that is different from questioning yourself.
“I wish to stress I am responsible for the current defeats. You are responsible when you are victorious but also responsible when you are defeated. I can not provide enough reasons for us to have the results we have. That is not good enough and I am responsible for that.”
Liverpool’s display fell apart as Slot made multiple attacking changes when chasing the match. “It was the same away at Nottingham Forest the previous campaign,” he remarked. “I took Ibou [Ibrahima Konaté] out and put 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.”
The Anfield side last lost back-to-back home Premier League games against Nottingham Forest in 1963. The most recent occasion they suffered back-to-back league matches by a 3-0 scoreline was in the mid-60s.
Slot commented: “It was extremely poor. Playing on home soil, conceding 3-0 regardless of which team you encounter is a very, very bad result. Surprising if you look at the opening 30 minutes of the game. I did not witness us producing so many chances in the initial 30 minutes perhaps the entire campaign, and the initial occasion they entered in our penalty area they scored.
“It wasn’t against Manchester City, but in every other game we have been the controlling team and were able to generate opportunities. Recently it is almost consistently that we fail to convert our opportunities and the ones we concede go in.”