Slot Offers Zero Justifications and Vows to Plot Route From Malaise

Liverpool's head coach stated he had to “look at myself” following Liverpool endured a sixth defeat in seven English top-flight matches at home to Nottingham Forest and affirmed he would discover a solution out of the champions’ poor run.

Forest, fighting against the drop prior to the match, delivered the biggest victory at Anfield in their club records as the Merseyside club fell to an eighth defeat in eleven matches in all competitions. The British record signing, the Swedish striker, was again anonymous and Liverpool argued Murillo’s opener ought to have been disallowed for comparable grounds to the captain's chalked-off goal against Manchester City before the national team pause. But the manager conceded the buck rested with him and made no excuses.

“No one wishes to listen to me now speaking about refereeing decisions if you are defeated 3-0 in your own stadium to Forest,” said the Liverpool head coach. “I ought to look at my own role first and my team, but it does show you how a score can change the momentum of a game. Before I was just waiting for us to score a goal. Later we hardly generated any chances.

“Of course there is a way out, especially with the talented players we have. No matter if you triumph or are beaten when you look back you are always thinking: ‘Where can we improve, in what aspects can we make changes?’ but that is different from questioning yourself.

“I want to stress I am responsible for the present defeats. You are answerable when you are victorious but also responsible when you are defeated. I can never provide sufficient reasons for us to have the results we have. That is far from good enough and I am responsible for that.”

Liverpool’s performance unravelled as the coach introduced multiple offensive changes when pursuing the game. “It was the same on the road at Forest the previous campaign,” he remarked. “I substituted the French defender out and brought on the Portuguese forward and he found the net straight away to equalize at 1-1. At that time it was brave, now it’s probably stupid.”

Liverpool previously were defeated in two successive home Premier League fixtures against Nottingham Forest in 1963. The most recent occasion they lost back-to-back top-flight matches by a 3-0 scoreline was in the mid-60s.

Slot said: “It was extremely poor. Competing at home, conceding 3-0 regardless of which team you encounter is a very, very bad outcome. Surprising if you look at the opening 30 minutes of the match. I haven’t seen us creating so many chances in the opening 30 minutes maybe the entire campaign, and the first time they arrived in our penalty area they scored.

“It wasn’t at City, but in all other game we have been the controlling team and were able to generate opportunities. Lately it is almost constantly that we fail to convert our opportunities and the attempts we allow go in.”

Tina Scott
Tina Scott

Elena Voss is a business strategist with over 15 years of experience in global consulting, specializing in digital transformation and market expansion.