Liverpool's Manager Provides No Excuses and Vows to Find Route From Slump
Liverpool's head coach declared he needed to “examine my own performance” after Liverpool endured a sixth defeat in 7 Premier League games on their own turf to Nottingham Forest and affirmed he would find a way out of the title holders' slump.
Forest, in the relegation zone prior to the match, produced the biggest victory at Anfield in their history as the Merseyside club slipped to an 8th loss in 11 matches in all competitions. The British record signing, Alexander Isak, was again anonymous and the home side contended the defender's opener ought to have been disallowed for similar reasons to the captain's chalked-off goal against City prior to the national team pause. But Slot admitted the responsibility rested with him and offered no alibis.
“Nobody wishes to hear me now talking about officiating calls if you lose 3-0 at home to Forest,” said the Liverpool head coach. “I ought to examine my own role first and my team, but it does show you how a score can change the momentum of a game. Earlier I was just waiting for us to net a strike. Afterwards we barely created anything.
“Of course there is a path forward, especially with the quality footballers we have. Regardless if you win or are beaten when you look back you are always considering: ‘Where can we improve, where can we make changes?’ but that is different from doubting your abilities.
“I want to stress I am accountable for the current defeats. You are responsible when you are winning but also liable when you are defeated. I can never come up with enough reasons for us to have the results we have. That is far from acceptable and I am to blame for that.”
Liverpool’s display fell apart as the coach introduced several attacking changes when chasing the match. “It was the identical away at Nottingham Forest last season,” he said. “I substituted Ibou [Ibrahima Konaté] off and brought on [Diogo] Jota and he scored straight away to equalize at 1-1. Then it was courageous, now it’s probably stupid.”
The Anfield side last lost back-to-back at Anfield Premier League fixtures against Forest in the sixties. The most recent occasion they lost consecutive league matches by a 3-0 margin was in the mid-60s.
Slot commented: “It was very bad. Competing on home soil, losing 3-0 regardless of which team you encounter is a terrible result. Surprising if you consider the opening 30 minutes of the match. I did not witness us producing so many chances in the initial 30 minutes perhaps the entire season, and the initial occasion they entered in our penalty area they found the back of the net.
“It wasn’t at City, but in all other fixture we have been the controlling side and were capable to create opportunities. Recently it is almost constantly that we miss our opportunities and the ones we concede go in.”