Liverpool's Manager Offers No Excuses and Vows to Plot Route Out of Slump
Arne Slot declared he had to “examine my own performance” following Liverpool suffered a 6th defeat in seven English top-flight games at home against Forest and affirmed he would discover a way from the champions’ slump.
Nottingham Forest, fighting against the drop prior to the match, delivered the largest victory at Liverpool's stadium in their club records as Liverpool slipped to an eighth loss in eleven fixtures in all competitions. The most expensive domestic acquisition, Alexander Isak, was again anonymous and the home side argued the defender's first goal ought to have been disallowed for comparable grounds to the captain's chalked-off goal versus City prior to the international break. But Slot admitted the buck rested with him and made no excuses.
“No one wishes to listen to me now talking about officiating calls if you are defeated 3-0 at home to Nottingham Forest,” said the Liverpool head coach. “I should look at my own role initially and my squad, but it demonstrates you how a score can alter the momentum of a game. Before I was just waiting for us to net a goal. Later we barely created anything.
“Naturally there is a way out, especially with the quality footballers we have. Regardless if you triumph 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 something else from doubting your abilities.
“I want to emphasise I am responsible for the present losses. You are answerable when you are winning but also liable when you are defeated. I can not provide sufficient excuses for us to have the outcomes we have. That is not good enough and I am responsible for that.”
The team's performance unravelled as Slot made multiple offensive substitutions when chasing the game. “It was the identical on the road at Nottingham Forest the previous campaign,” he said. “I substituted Ibou [Ibrahima Konaté] out and brought on [Diogo] Jota and he scored straight away to equalize at 1-1. Then it was brave, currently it’s likely stupid.”
The Anfield side previously were defeated in back-to-back at Anfield league games by Nottingham Forest in the sixties. The most recent occasion they lost consecutive league matches by a three-goal scoreline was in 1965.
The manager said: “It was extremely poor. Competing on home soil, conceding 3-0 no matter which opponent you encounter is a terrible outcome. Surprising if you consider the opening 30 minutes of the game. I haven’t seen us creating so much in the initial 30 minutes maybe the whole season, and the initial occasion they arrived in our penalty area they scored.
“It wasn’t at City, but in all other fixture we have been the controlling side and were able to generate chances. Recently it is nearly constantly that we fail to convert our opportunities and the ones we allow find the net.”