Liverpool's Manager Offers Zero Justifications and Vows to Plot Route Out of Slump
Liverpool's head coach declared he needed to “look at myself” following the Reds endured a 6th defeat in seven English top-flight matches at home to Forest and insisted he would find a solution from the title holders' poor run.
Nottingham Forest, in the relegation zone prior to the match, delivered the biggest win at Liverpool's stadium in their club records as the Merseyside club slipped to an 8th defeat in eleven matches in all competitions. The most expensive domestic acquisition, the Swedish striker, was once more anonymous and the home side contended the defender's first goal ought to have been disallowed for comparable grounds to the captain's disallowed effort versus City before the international break. But Slot admitted the buck rested with him and offered no alibis.
“Nobody wishes to hear me now speaking about refereeing decisions if you are defeated 3-0 at home to Nottingham Forest,” said the Reds' boss. “I should examine my own role first and my team, but it demonstrates you how a goal can alter the momentum of a game. Earlier I was just hoping for us to score a goal. Later we barely created anything.
“Naturally there is a path forward, especially with the quality footballers we have. Regardless if you win or lose when you reflect you are always considering: ‘Where can we improve, in what aspects can we adjust?’ but that is different from questioning your abilities.
“I wish to emphasise I am responsible for the present defeats. You are answerable when you are victorious but also responsible when you are defeated. I can not come up with sufficient reasons for us to have the results we have. That is not good enough and I am responsible for that.”
Liverpool’s performance fell apart as the coach introduced several attacking changes when chasing the match. “It was the same away at Nottingham Forest the previous campaign,” he remarked. “I substituted the French defender off and put on the Portuguese forward and he scored straight away to equalize at 1-1. At that time it was courageous, currently it’s probably unwise.”
The Anfield side previously were defeated in back-to-back at Anfield league fixtures against Forest in 1963. The most recent occasion they lost consecutive top-flight games by a three-goal margin was in 1965.
The manager said: “It was very bad. Competing at home, losing 3-0 no matter which team you encounter is a very, very bad result. Surprising if you look at the first half-hour of the match. I did not witness us producing so many chances in the opening half-hour maybe the entire campaign, and the first time they arrived in our box they scored.
“It wasn’t against Manchester City, but in every other fixture we have been the controlling team and were capable to create chances. Recently it is almost consistently that we miss our chances and the attempts we allow find the net.”