Slot Offers Zero Justifications and Vows to Plot Way Out of Malaise
Arne Slot declared he had to “examine my own performance” following Liverpool suffered a sixth loss in seven English top-flight games at home to Forest and affirmed he would find a solution from the champions’ slump.
Nottingham Forest, in the relegation zone before kick off, produced the largest victory at Liverpool's stadium in their history as Liverpool slipped to an eighth defeat in 11 matches 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 ruled out for comparable grounds to the captain's disallowed effort versus Manchester City prior to the international break. But the manager conceded the responsibility stopped with him and offered no alibis.
“No one wants to hear me now talking about officiating calls if you lose 3-0 in your own stadium to Forest,” said the Reds' boss. “I should examine my own role first and my team, but it does show you how a score can change the momentum of a game. Before I was just waiting for us to score a goal. Afterwards we hardly generated anything.
“Of course there is a way out, particularly with the talented footballers we have. Regardless if you win or lose when you look back you are always considering: ‘Where can we do better, in what aspects can we make changes?’ but that is different from questioning your abilities.
“I want to stress I am accountable for the current defeats. You are responsible when you are victorious but also liable when you are defeated. I can never provide sufficient excuses for us to have the results we have. That is far from acceptable and I am to blame for that.”
The team's performance fell apart as Slot introduced several offensive changes when pursuing the match. “It was the same on the road at Forest the previous campaign,” he remarked. “I substituted the French defender 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 stupid.”
Liverpool last lost two successive at Anfield league fixtures by Nottingham Forest in the sixties. The last time they lost consecutive league matches by a three-goal margin was in 1965.
Slot said: “It was extremely poor. Playing on home soil, losing 3-0 regardless of which opponent you face is a terrible outcome. Unexpected if you look at the opening 30 minutes of the match. I did not witness us creating so many chances in the opening 30 minutes maybe the entire campaign, and the first time they entered in our penalty area they scored.
“It did not happen at City, but in all other game we have been the controlling side and were able to create opportunities. Recently it is almost consistently that we miss our opportunities and the ones we allow find the net.”