Slot Provides No Excuses and Vows to Find Route From Malaise

Liverpool's head coach stated he needed to “look at myself” after the Reds endured a 6th loss in 7 Premier League games at home against Forest and insisted he would discover a solution from the champions’ poor run.

Nottingham Forest, in the relegation zone before kick off, delivered the largest victory at Liverpool's stadium in their history as the Merseyside club slipped to an 8th defeat in eleven fixtures in all competitions. The British record signing, Alexander Isak, was once more unnoticeable and the home side argued the defender's first goal should have been disallowed for similar reasons to Virgil van Dijk’s disallowed effort versus City before the international break. But the manager admitted the responsibility stopped with him and made no excuses.

“Nobody wants 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 look at myself initially and my squad, but it demonstrates you how a goal can change the momentum of a match. Earlier I was just waiting for us to net a goal. Afterwards we hardly created any chances.

“Of course 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 adjust?’ but that is different from questioning your abilities.

“I want to emphasise I am accountable for the present losses. You are answerable when you are victorious but also liable when you are losing. I can never provide enough reasons for us to have the outcomes we have. That is far from acceptable and I am to blame for that.”

The team's performance unravelled as the coach made several attacking substitutions when pursuing the game. “It was the same on the road at Forest last season,” he remarked. “I substituted Ibou [Ibrahima Konaté] off and put on [Diogo] Jota and he scored immediately to make it 1-1. Then it was courageous, now it’s probably stupid.”

The Anfield side last lost two successive home league fixtures 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 said: “It was very bad. Competing on home soil, conceding 3-0 no matter which opponent you face is a very, very bad result. Surprising if you consider the first half-hour of the match. I did not witness us creating so much in the initial 30 minutes maybe the entire season, and the initial occasion they arrived in our box they scored.

“It did not happen at City, but in all other fixture we have been the dominant side and were capable to create opportunities. Recently it is nearly constantly that we fail to convert our opportunities and the ones we allow go in.”

Sabrina Anderson
Sabrina Anderson

A passionate writer and life coach dedicated to empowering others through motivational content and practical advice.