Liverpool's Manager Provides No Excuses and Pledges to Plot Route Out of Malaise
Liverpool's head coach declared he needed to “examine my own performance” following Liverpool suffered a sixth loss in 7 English top-flight games on their own turf to Nottingham Forest and affirmed he would find a way out of the champions’ slump.
Forest, fighting against the drop prior to the match, delivered the biggest win at Liverpool's stadium in their club records as the Merseyside club fell to an eighth loss in eleven matches in all competitions. The most expensive domestic acquisition, Alexander Isak, was once more unnoticeable and the home side contended Murillo’s first goal ought to have been disallowed for similar reasons to Virgil van Dijk’s disallowed effort against City before the international break. But Slot conceded the buck rested with him and offered no alibis.
“Nobody wants to hear me now talking about refereeing decisions if you are defeated 3-0 at home to Nottingham Forest,” stated the Liverpool head coach. “I ought to examine my own role initially and my team, but it does show you how a score can alter the momentum of a match. Earlier I was just hoping for us to score a goal. Afterwards we barely generated anything.
“Naturally there is a path forward, particularly with the talented players we have. Regardless if you triumph or lose when you look back you are always thinking: ‘Where can we improve, in what aspects can we adjust?’ but that is different from questioning your abilities.
“I want to stress I am accountable for the current losses. You are answerable when you are winning but also responsible when you are losing. I can never provide enough excuses for us to have the outcomes we have. That is not acceptable and I am responsible for that.”
The team's display unravelled as the coach introduced multiple attacking substitutions when pursuing the game. “It was the same on the road at Forest last season,” he said. “I substituted the French defender off and brought on [Diogo] Jota and he scored straight away to make it 1-1. At that time it was courageous, now it’s probably stupid.”
The Anfield side previously were defeated in back-to-back at Anfield league fixtures against Forest in 1963. The most recent occasion they suffered back-to-back top-flight games by a 3-0 scoreline was in 1965.
The manager commented: “It was extremely poor. Competing at home, losing 3-0 no matter which opponent you face is a very, very bad result. Surprising if you look at the opening 30 minutes of the match. I haven’t seen us producing so many chances in the opening half-hour maybe the whole season, and the initial occasion they arrived in our box they scored.
“It wasn’t at City, but in every other game we have been the dominant side and were able to create opportunities. Recently it is nearly consistently that we miss our opportunities and the attempts we allow find the net.”