Slot Offers Zero Justifications and Vows to Find Route Out of Malaise
Liverpool's head coach declared he needed to “examine my own performance” after Liverpool suffered a sixth loss in seven Premier League games at home to Nottingham Forest and affirmed he would find a way out of the title holders' poor run.
Forest, fighting against the drop before kick off, produced the largest win at Liverpool's stadium in their history as the Merseyside club slipped to an 8th loss in 11 fixtures in every tournament. The most expensive domestic acquisition, the Swedish striker, was once more anonymous and Liverpool argued the defender's opener ought to have been disallowed for similar reasons to Virgil van Dijk’s chalked-off goal versus Manchester City before the international break. But Slot admitted the buck rested with him and offered no alibis.
“No one wants to hear me now speaking about refereeing decisions 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 team, but it demonstrates you how a goal can alter the flow of a match. Before I was just hoping for us to score a strike. Later we barely created anything.
“Naturally there is a way out, particularly with the quality players we have. No matter if you win or lose when you reflect you are always thinking: ‘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 accountable for the current defeats. You are responsible when you are winning but also liable when you are losing. I can not provide enough excuses for us to have the outcomes we have. That is not good enough and I am responsible for that.”
Liverpool’s display fell apart as Slot made multiple attacking changes when chasing the game. “It was the same away at Forest the previous campaign,” he remarked. “I took Ibou [Ibrahima Konaté] off and put on the Portuguese forward and he scored immediately to make it 1-1. At that time it was courageous, now it’s probably stupid.”
The Anfield side previously were defeated in back-to-back at Anfield Premier League games by Nottingham Forest in the sixties. The last time they lost back-to-back top-flight matches by a three-goal margin was in 1965.
The manager commented: “It was extremely poor. Playing at home, conceding 3-0 no matter which team you face is a terrible outcome. Surprising if you consider the first half-hour of the game. I did not witness us creating so much in the opening half-hour maybe the whole campaign, and the initial occasion they entered in our penalty area they found the back of the net.
“It did not happen at City, but in all other game we have been the controlling side and were able to generate opportunities. Lately it is nearly consistently that we miss our opportunities and the ones we allow find the net.”