Slot Offers No Excuses and Pledges to Find Way From Slump
Arne Slot stated he had to “look at myself” after the Reds endured a 6th defeat in seven English top-flight matches on their own turf against Forest and affirmed he would find a way out of the champions’ slump.
Nottingham Forest, fighting against the drop prior to the match, delivered the largest win at Liverpool's stadium in their club records as the Merseyside club fell to an eighth defeat in eleven matches in every tournament. 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 Virgil van Dijk’s disallowed effort versus City prior to the national team pause. But Slot admitted the buck rested with him and made no excuses.
“Nobody wants to hear me now talking about refereeing decisions if you lose 3-0 at home to Forest,” said the Reds' boss. “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 game. Earlier I was just hoping for us to net a goal. Afterwards we hardly generated anything.
“Naturally there is a path forward, especially with the quality players we have. Regardless if you triumph or are beaten 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 wish to stress I am accountable for the present defeats. You are responsible when you are winning but also responsible when you are defeated. I can never provide enough reasons for us to have the outcomes we have. That is not acceptable and I am to blame for that.”
The team's performance fell apart as Slot introduced several attacking changes when chasing the match. “It was the same on the road at Nottingham Forest last season,” he said. “I substituted the French defender out and put on [Diogo] Jota and he scored straight away to equalize at 1-1. Then it was courageous, currently it’s probably unwise.”
Liverpool last lost back-to-back home league games against Nottingham Forest in the sixties. The last time they lost consecutive league games by a 3-0 scoreline was in the mid-60s.
Slot commented: “It was extremely poor. Playing on home soil, losing 3-0 no matter which opponent you encounter is a terrible result. Unexpected if you consider the first half-hour of the game. I haven’t seen us producing so many chances in the initial half-hour maybe the whole season, and the initial occasion they entered in our box they scored.
“It did not happen against Manchester City, but in every other fixture we have been the controlling side and were able to generate chances. Lately it is almost consistently that we miss our opportunities and the attempts we concede go in.”