Liverpool's Manager Offers No Excuses and Pledges to Plot Way Out of Slump
Liverpool's head coach declared he had to “look at myself” after the Reds suffered a 6th defeat in 7 English top-flight matches at home against Nottingham Forest and insisted he would find a way from the title holders' poor run.
Nottingham Forest, fighting against the drop prior to the match, produced the biggest victory at Liverpool's stadium in their history as Liverpool fell to an eighth defeat in eleven matches in every tournament. The most expensive domestic acquisition, the Swedish striker, was once more unnoticeable and Liverpool argued the defender's first goal should have been disallowed for similar reasons to Virgil van Dijk’s chalked-off goal versus City prior to the national team pause. But the manager admitted the responsibility rested with him and made no excuses.
“Nobody wants to listen to me now speaking about officiating calls if you are defeated 3-0 at home to Forest,” said the Liverpool head coach. “I ought to look at my own role initially and my team, but it does show you how a goal can change the flow of a match. Earlier I was just waiting for us to score a strike. Later we hardly generated any chances.
“Naturally there is a path forward, especially with the quality players we have. No matter if you win or are beaten when you look back you are always considering: ‘Where can we improve, in what aspects can we make changes?’ but that is different from questioning yourself.
“I wish to emphasise I am responsible for the present defeats. You are responsible when you are winning but also liable when you are losing. I can not come up with sufficient excuses for us to have the results we have. That is far from good enough and I am to blame for that.”
The team's display unravelled as Slot introduced several attacking substitutions when chasing the game. “It was the same away at Nottingham Forest the previous campaign,” he remarked. “I took the French defender out and put on the Portuguese forward and he found the net immediately to make it 1-1. At that time it was courageous, currently it’s probably unwise.”
Liverpool last lost two successive home league games by Nottingham Forest in 1963. The last time they suffered consecutive league games by a 3-0 scoreline was in 1965.
The manager commented: “It was extremely poor. Competing on home soil, losing 3-0 regardless of which team you encounter is a very, very bad result. Unexpected if you consider the opening 30 minutes of the game. I haven’t seen us creating so much in the opening half-hour perhaps the whole campaign, and the first time they entered in our box they scored.
“It did not happen against Manchester City, but in every other game we have been the controlling side and were able to generate opportunities. Lately it is almost consistently that we fail to convert our chances and the attempts we allow find the net.”