🔗 Share this article

Liverpool's head coach stated he needed to “look at myself” after the Reds suffered a sixth loss in seven Premier League matches at home to Nottingham Forest and insisted he would discover a way from the champions’ slump.

Forest, fighting against the drop prior to the match, produced the largest victory at Anfield in their club records as the Merseyside club fell to an 8th defeat in eleven matches in every tournament. The most expensive domestic acquisition, Alexander Isak, was again anonymous and Liverpool argued Murillo’s opener should have been disallowed for comparable grounds to Virgil van Dijk’s disallowed effort against Manchester City prior to the national team pause. But the manager conceded the responsibility rested with him and offered no alibis.

“Nobody wants to listen to me now talking about refereeing decisions if you lose 3-0 in your own stadium to Forest,” said the Liverpool head coach. “I should look at myself initially and my team, but it does show you how a goal can change the momentum of a match. Earlier I was just hoping for us to score a goal. Afterwards we hardly created any chances.

“Naturally there is a path forward, particularly with the quality players we have. No matter if you triumph or are beaten when you reflect you are always thinking: ‘In which areas can we improve, in what aspects can we adjust?’ but that is something else from doubting your abilities.

“I wish to emphasise I am accountable for the present losses. You are answerable when you are winning but also liable when you are losing. I can never come up with enough reasons for us to have the results we have. That is not good enough and I am responsible for that.”

Liverpool’s display unravelled as the coach introduced several offensive substitutions when chasing the game. “It was the identical away at Forest the previous campaign,” he said. “I substituted the French defender out and put on [Diogo] Jota and he scored straight away to make it 1-1. Then it was courageous, now it’s likely stupid.”

Liverpool last lost two successive at Anfield league fixtures by Forest in the sixties. The most recent occasion they suffered back-to-back top-flight games by a 3-0 scoreline was in 1965.

Slot commented: “It was extremely poor. Playing on home soil, conceding 3-0 no matter which team you encounter is a very, very bad outcome. Surprising if you consider the first half-hour of the match. I did not witness us creating so much in the opening half-hour perhaps the entire season, and the initial occasion they entered in our penalty area they scored.

“It did not happen at City, but in every other fixture we have been the dominant team and were capable to generate opportunities. Lately it is nearly constantly that we miss our chances and the ones we allow find the net.”