Slot Offers Zero Justifications and Pledges to Plot Way From Slump
Liverpool's head coach stated he had to “look at myself” after the Reds suffered a 6th defeat in seven English top-flight matches at home to Forest and insisted he would discover a way from the title holders' poor run.
Nottingham Forest, in the relegation zone prior to the match, produced the largest win at Liverpool's stadium in their club records as Liverpool fell to an 8th defeat in eleven fixtures in all competitions. The most expensive domestic acquisition, Alexander Isak, was once more anonymous and the home side argued the defender's first goal should have been ruled out for comparable grounds to Virgil van Dijk’s chalked-off goal against Manchester City before the international break. But the manager admitted the buck rested with him and made no excuses.
“No one wishes to hear me now speaking about officiating calls if you lose 3-0 in your own stadium to Forest,” said the Liverpool head coach. “I ought to look at myself first and my squad, but it does show you how a goal can change the flow of a game. Before I was just hoping for us to net a strike. Later we hardly created any chances.
“Naturally there is a path forward, particularly with the quality players we have. No matter if you win or lose when you reflect you are always considering: ‘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 answerable when you are winning but also liable when you are losing. I can not provide enough excuses for us to have the results we have. That is not acceptable and I am to blame for that.”
Liverpool’s display unravelled as the coach introduced multiple attacking substitutions when chasing the match. “It was the identical away at Nottingham Forest the previous campaign,” he said. “I substituted the French defender off and brought on the Portuguese forward and he scored immediately to make it 1-1. At that time it was courageous, now it’s likely unwise.”
The Anfield side previously were defeated in back-to-back home Premier League games against Forest in 1963. The most recent occasion they suffered back-to-back top-flight games by a three-goal margin was in 1965.
Slot said: “It was very bad. Competing at home, losing 3-0 regardless of which team you encounter is a terrible result. Unexpected if you look at the opening 30 minutes of the game. I did not witness us producing so many chances in the initial 30 minutes maybe the entire campaign, and the first time they entered in our penalty area they scored.
“It did not happen at City, but in every other game we have been the controlling team and were capable to generate opportunities. Recently it is nearly consistently that we fail to convert our opportunities and the attempts we allow go in.”