Slot Provides No Excuses and Vows to Find Route From Malaise
Arne Slot declared he needed to “examine my own performance” following Liverpool suffered a sixth loss in seven Premier League games on their own turf against Nottingham Forest and insisted he would discover a way from the title holders' 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 eighth defeat in eleven fixtures in all competitions. The British record signing, Alexander Isak, was once more unnoticeable and Liverpool contended the defender's first goal should have been disallowed for comparable grounds to the captain's chalked-off goal against City before the national team pause. But Slot conceded the responsibility stopped with him and offered no alibis.
“Nobody wishes to hear me now talking about officiating calls if you are defeated 3-0 in your own stadium to Nottingham Forest,” stated the Reds' boss. “I should examine myself initially and my team, but it demonstrates you how a goal can alter the flow of a game. Earlier I was just waiting for us to net a strike. Afterwards we barely created anything.
“Naturally there is a way out, particularly with the quality players we have. Regardless if you win or lose when you look back you are always thinking: ‘Where can we do better, in what aspects can we adjust?’ but that is different from questioning yourself.
“I wish to emphasise I am accountable for the current defeats. You are answerable when you are winning but also responsible when you are defeated. I can not provide sufficient reasons for us to have the results we have. That is far from acceptable and I am responsible for that.”
The team's performance fell apart as Slot introduced multiple offensive substitutions when chasing the game. “It was the same away at Forest last season,” he said. “I substituted the French defender off and brought on [Diogo] Jota and he found the net immediately to make it 1-1. At that time it was brave, now it’s probably unwise.”
The Anfield side last lost two successive home Premier League fixtures by Forest in the sixties. The most recent occasion they suffered consecutive league games by a three-goal scoreline was in 1965.
The manager said: “It was very bad. Playing at home, conceding 3-0 no matter which team you encounter is a very, very bad outcome. Unexpected if you look at the opening 30 minutes of the match. I haven’t seen us creating so many chances in the initial half-hour perhaps the entire season, and the first time they entered in our penalty area they scored.
“It wasn’t at City, but in all other game we have been the dominant team and were able to create chances. Lately it is almost consistently that we miss our opportunities and the attempts we allow go in.”