Slot Provides No Excuses and Vows to Find Route Out of Slump

Liverpool's head coach declared he needed to “examine my own performance” following the Reds suffered a 6th defeat in 7 English top-flight matches at home against Nottingham Forest and insisted he would discover a way out of the champions’ poor run.

Nottingham Forest, in the relegation zone before kick off, produced the largest victory at Liverpool's stadium in their history as the Merseyside club slipped to an 8th defeat in 11 matches in every tournament. The British record signing, Alexander Isak, was again unnoticeable and Liverpool argued the defender's opener ought to have been ruled out for similar reasons to Virgil van Dijk’s disallowed effort against Manchester City prior to the national team pause. But the manager admitted the responsibility rested with him and made no excuses.

“Nobody wishes to hear me now talking about officiating calls if you lose 3-0 in your own stadium to Forest,” stated the Reds' boss. “I ought to look at my own role first and my squad, but it does show you how a goal can alter the flow of a match. Earlier I was just waiting for us to net a strike. Afterwards we barely generated anything.

“Of course there is a way out, especially with the talented players we have. Regardless if you triumph or are beaten when you reflect you are always considering: ‘Where can we improve, where can we make changes?’ but that is different from doubting your abilities.

“I want to emphasise I am responsible for the current losses. You are answerable when you are victorious but also liable when you are defeated. I can never come up with 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 fell apart as the coach introduced several attacking substitutions when pursuing the game. “It was the identical on the road at Forest last season,” he said. “I substituted Ibou [Ibrahima Konaté] off and brought on the Portuguese forward and he scored straight away to equalize at 1-1. At that time it was courageous, now it’s probably stupid.”

The Anfield side last lost two successive home league games by Nottingham Forest in 1963. The last time they suffered back-to-back league games by a 3-0 margin was in the mid-60s.

Slot said: “It was extremely poor. Competing on home soil, conceding 3-0 no matter which team you encounter is a terrible outcome. Unexpected if you look at the opening 30 minutes of the game. I did not witness us creating so much in the opening 30 minutes perhaps the entire campaign, and the initial occasion they entered in our box they scored.

“It did not happen against Manchester City, but in every other game we have been the dominant team and were able to generate chances. Lately it is nearly consistently that we miss our chances and the attempts we allow find the net.”

Mark Jones
Mark Jones

A passionate casino enthusiast and industry analyst with over a decade of experience reviewing slots and online gambling platforms.