Slot Provides Zero Justifications and Pledges to Find Way Out of Slump
Liverpool's head coach stated he needed to “examine my own performance” following the Reds endured a sixth loss in 7 Premier League matches at home against Nottingham Forest and insisted he would discover a solution out of the title holders' poor run.
Forest, fighting against the drop before kick off, delivered the biggest win at Anfield in their history as Liverpool fell to an 8th loss in eleven matches in every tournament. The most expensive domestic acquisition, the Swedish striker, was again anonymous and Liverpool argued the defender's first goal should have been disallowed for similar reasons to the captain's disallowed effort against City before the national team pause. But the manager admitted the buck stopped with him and made no excuses.
“No one wishes to hear me now speaking about officiating calls if you lose 3-0 in your own stadium to Nottingham Forest,” stated the Liverpool head coach. “I should examine myself first and my squad, but it demonstrates you how a score can change the momentum of a match. Before I was just hoping for us to score a goal. Afterwards we hardly generated any chances.
“Of course there is a way out, particularly with the quality footballers we have. Regardless if you triumph or are beaten when you reflect you are always considering: ‘In which areas can we improve, in what aspects can we make changes?’ but that is different from doubting your abilities.
“I wish to stress I am accountable for the present defeats. You are responsible when you are victorious but also responsible when you are defeated. I can never provide enough excuses for us to have the outcomes we have. That is not acceptable and I am to blame for that.”
Liverpool’s display unravelled as the coach made several offensive substitutions when chasing the game. “It was the same away at Nottingham Forest last season,” he remarked. “I took the French defender out and brought on the Portuguese forward and he scored immediately to make it 1-1. Then it was courageous, currently it’s likely stupid.”
The Anfield side last lost two successive at Anfield league fixtures by Forest in the sixties. The most recent occasion they lost back-to-back top-flight matches by a 3-0 scoreline was in 1965.
Slot said: “It was extremely poor. Competing at home, conceding 3-0 no matter which team you face is a terrible outcome. Surprising if you look at the first half-hour of the match. I haven’t seen us producing so much in the initial half-hour perhaps the whole campaign, and the initial occasion they arrived in our penalty area they scored.
“It wasn’t against Manchester City, but in every other fixture we have been the dominant team and were capable to create chances. Recently it is nearly consistently that we miss our opportunities and the ones we allow go in.”