Liverpool's Manager Provides No Excuses and Vows to Plot Way Out of Malaise
Arne Slot declared he needed to “look at myself” following Liverpool suffered a sixth defeat in 7 English top-flight games at home against Nottingham Forest and affirmed he would discover a way out of the title holders' slump.
Nottingham Forest, in the relegation zone before kick off, delivered the largest victory at Anfield in their club records as the Merseyside club slipped to an eighth loss in 11 fixtures in every tournament. The most expensive domestic acquisition, the Swedish striker, was again anonymous and the home side argued Murillo’s opener ought to have been ruled out for similar reasons to Virgil van Dijk’s chalked-off goal against City before the international break. But the manager admitted the responsibility rested with him and made no excuses.
“Nobody wishes to hear me now speaking about officiating calls if you are defeated 3-0 in your own stadium to Nottingham Forest,” stated the Liverpool head coach. “I ought to look at myself first and my squad, but it demonstrates you how a goal can change the flow of a game. Before I was just hoping for us to score a goal. Later we barely created any chances.
“Naturally there is a way out, particularly with the quality footballers we have. No matter if you triumph or are beaten when you reflect you are always thinking: ‘In which areas can we do better, in what aspects can we adjust?’ but that is something else from doubting yourself.
“I want to emphasise I am responsible for the present losses. You are answerable when you are victorious but also liable when you are defeated. I can not come up with sufficient excuses for us to have the results we have. That is far from good enough and I am responsible for that.”
The team's display fell apart as the coach introduced several offensive changes when chasing the game. “It was the identical on the road at Nottingham Forest the previous campaign,” he said. “I substituted Ibou [Ibrahima Konaté] out and put on [Diogo] Jota and he scored immediately to make it 1-1. Then it was courageous, currently it’s probably stupid.”
The Anfield side last lost back-to-back at Anfield league games against Nottingham Forest in the sixties. The most recent occasion they lost back-to-back top-flight matches by a 3-0 margin was in 1965.
The manager said: “It was very bad. Competing on home soil, conceding 3-0 no matter which team you face is a very, very bad outcome. Surprising if you look at the first half-hour of the game. I haven’t seen us producing so many chances in the initial 30 minutes maybe the entire season, and the initial occasion they entered in our penalty area they found the back of the net.
“It did not happen against Manchester City, but in every other fixture we have been the dominant team and were capable to create chances. Recently it is nearly consistently that we miss our chances and the attempts we concede find the net.”