Liverpool's Manager Provides Zero Justifications and Pledges to Plot Route Out of Slump

Arne Slot stated he had to “look at myself” after Liverpool endured a sixth loss in 7 Premier League matches on their own turf to Nottingham Forest and affirmed he would discover a way out of the title holders' poor run.

Nottingham Forest, in the relegation zone before kick off, produced the largest win at Anfield in their history as Liverpool slipped to an 8th loss in eleven matches in all competitions. The most expensive domestic acquisition, Alexander Isak, was once more anonymous and the home side argued the defender's opener should have been ruled out for similar reasons to Virgil van Dijk’s disallowed effort versus Manchester City before the national team pause. But the manager conceded the buck stopped with him and made no excuses.

“No one wants to hear me now speaking about refereeing decisions if you are defeated 3-0 in your own stadium to Nottingham Forest,” stated the Liverpool head coach. “I should examine my own role first and my team, but it demonstrates you how a goal can alter the flow of a game. Earlier I was just hoping for us to score a goal. Afterwards we hardly created anything.

“Of course there is a path forward, especially with the talented footballers we have. No matter if you win or lose when you reflect you are always thinking: ‘In which areas can we improve, where can we adjust?’ but that is different from questioning yourself.

“I wish to stress I am responsible for the present losses. You are responsible when you are winning but also liable when you are losing. I can not come up with sufficient excuses for us to have the outcomes we have. That is far from good enough and I am responsible for that.”

Liverpool’s performance unravelled as the coach introduced multiple attacking changes when pursuing the game. “It was the same on the road at Forest last season,” he said. “I substituted Ibou [Ibrahima Konaté] off and brought on [Diogo] Jota and he scored immediately to make it 1-1. At that time it was courageous, currently it’s probably unwise.”

Liverpool last lost two successive home league fixtures by Nottingham Forest in 1963. The last time they lost consecutive top-flight games by a three-goal margin was in 1965.

Slot said: “It was very bad. Playing on home soil, conceding 3-0 regardless of which opponent you encounter is a terrible result. Unexpected if you look at the opening 30 minutes of the match. I did not witness us producing so many chances in the initial 30 minutes maybe the entire campaign, and the first time they entered in our penalty area they found the back of the net.

“It wasn’t against Manchester City, but in all other fixture we have been the dominant team and were able to create opportunities. Recently it is almost consistently that we fail to convert our chances and the ones we allow find the net.”

Denise Levine
Denise Levine

Cybersecurity expert and tech writer specializing in data protection and cloud storage innovations.