Liverpool's Manager Provides No Excuses and Pledges to Plot Route Out of Slump

Liverpool's head coach stated he had to “examine my own performance” after the Reds endured a 6th loss in seven English top-flight games on their own turf to Nottingham Forest and insisted he would discover a way from the title holders' poor run.

Nottingham Forest, in the relegation zone before kick off, delivered the biggest win at Liverpool's stadium in their club records as Liverpool slipped to an 8th loss in eleven matches in every tournament. The British record signing, the Swedish striker, was again unnoticeable and the home side argued Murillo’s opener should have been disallowed for similar reasons to the captain's chalked-off goal versus City prior to the international break. But Slot conceded the buck rested with him and made no excuses.

“Nobody wishes to hear me now speaking about officiating calls if you are defeated 3-0 at home to Nottingham Forest,” stated the Reds' boss. “I should examine myself first and my team, but it demonstrates you how a goal can change the momentum of a game. Before I was just waiting for us to score a strike. Afterwards we barely generated any chances.

“Naturally there is a way out, especially with the quality players we have. Regardless if you triumph or lose when you look back you are always thinking: ‘Where can we improve, where can we adjust?’ but that is something else from questioning your abilities.

“I want to stress I am responsible for the present losses. You are answerable when you are victorious but also responsible when you are losing. I can never provide sufficient excuses for us to have the outcomes we have. That is not good enough and I am to blame for that.”

The team's display fell apart as the coach made several attacking changes when pursuing the game. “It was the same on the road at Nottingham Forest the previous campaign,” he said. “I took Ibou [Ibrahima Konaté] out and brought on [Diogo] Jota and he scored immediately to make it 1-1. At that time it was courageous, currently it’s probably stupid.”

Liverpool last lost two successive home league fixtures against Nottingham Forest in 1963. The most recent occasion they lost back-to-back league matches by a 3-0 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 terrible 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 half-hour perhaps the entire season, and the initial occasion they entered in our penalty area they found the back of the net.

“It wasn’t at City, but in every other fixture we have been the dominant team and were able to create opportunities. Lately it is almost constantly that we fail to convert our opportunities and the ones we allow find the net.”

Brittany Barajas
Brittany Barajas

A seasoned gamer and strategy expert with over a decade of experience in quest-based RPGs and tactical simulations.