Liverpool's Manager Provides No Excuses and Vows to Find Way Out of Slump
Arne Slot stated he needed to “look at myself” after the Reds suffered a sixth loss in 7 Premier League games on their own turf to Nottingham Forest and insisted he would find a solution out of the champions’ slump.
Forest, in the relegation zone prior to the match, produced the largest victory at Liverpool's stadium in their history as Liverpool fell to an eighth loss in 11 fixtures in every tournament. The most expensive domestic acquisition, the Swedish striker, was again anonymous and Liverpool contended the defender's first goal ought to have been disallowed for comparable grounds to the captain's disallowed effort against City before the international break. But Slot conceded the buck stopped with him and offered no alibis.
“Nobody wishes to hear me now speaking about refereeing decisions if you lose 3-0 at home to Nottingham Forest,” stated the Liverpool head coach. “I ought to examine myself first and my team, but it demonstrates you how a score can alter the momentum of a game. Before I was just hoping for us to score a strike. Later we hardly generated anything.
“Of course there is a path forward, especially with the talented footballers we have. Regardless if you triumph or lose when you look back you are always considering: ‘Where can we improve, where can we make changes?’ but that is something else from doubting yourself.
“I wish to stress I am accountable for the present defeats. You are responsible when you are winning but also liable when you are losing. I can not provide sufficient reasons for us to have the outcomes we have. That is far from acceptable and I am to blame for that.”
Liverpool’s performance unravelled as Slot introduced multiple attacking substitutions when chasing the game. “It was the same on the road at Nottingham Forest last season,” he said. “I took the French defender out and put on [Diogo] Jota and he scored straight away to equalize at 1-1. At that time it was brave, now it’s likely stupid.”
Liverpool last lost two successive at Anfield league fixtures by Nottingham Forest in the sixties. The most recent occasion they suffered back-to-back top-flight matches by a three-goal margin was in the mid-60s.
Slot said: “It was very bad. Competing on home soil, conceding 3-0 regardless of which opponent you face is a very, very bad result. Unexpected if you consider the first half-hour of the match. I did not witness us producing so much in the initial half-hour maybe the whole season, and the first time they arrived in our box they scored.
“It wasn’t against Manchester City, but in every other game we have been the controlling side and were capable to create opportunities. Recently it is almost constantly that we fail to convert our chances and the ones we allow find the net.”