Slot Provides Zero Justifications and Vows to Plot Way From Malaise

Liverpool's head coach declared he had to “examine my own performance” following Liverpool suffered a sixth defeat in 7 Premier League games at home against Forest and insisted he would find a solution out of the champions’ poor run.

Nottingham Forest, fighting against the drop before kick off, delivered the largest win at Anfield in their club records as the Merseyside club fell to an 8th defeat in eleven matches in all competitions. The most expensive domestic acquisition, the Swedish striker, was again unnoticeable and the home side contended the defender's opener should have been ruled out for comparable grounds to Virgil van Dijk’s chalked-off goal against Manchester City before the national team pause. But Slot admitted the buck rested with him and offered no alibis.

“Nobody wishes to hear me now speaking about officiating calls if you lose 3-0 in your own stadium to Forest,” said the Reds' boss. “I ought to look at my own role initially and my team, but it demonstrates you how a score can change the flow of a game. Before I was just hoping for us to score a goal. Later we hardly generated anything.

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

“I want to emphasise I am accountable for the current losses. You are responsible when you are winning but also responsible when you are defeated. I can never provide enough reasons for us to have the outcomes we have. That is far from acceptable and I am responsible for that.”

Liverpool’s display fell apart as Slot made multiple attacking substitutions when pursuing the match. “It was the identical on the road at Forest the previous campaign,” he remarked. “I substituted the French defender off and put on the Portuguese forward and he scored immediately to make it 1-1. At that time it was courageous, now it’s probably unwise.”

Liverpool previously were defeated in two successive home Premier League games by Forest in 1963. The most recent occasion they lost consecutive top-flight matches by a 3-0 margin was in 1965.

Slot said: “It was very bad. Playing at home, losing 3-0 no matter which team you face is a terrible result. Unexpected if you consider the first half-hour of the match. I haven’t seen us creating so many chances in the opening half-hour maybe the entire season, and the initial occasion they arrived in our penalty area they scored.

“It wasn’t against Manchester City, but in every other fixture we have been the dominant team and were capable to generate chances. Lately it is almost consistently that we miss our opportunities and the attempts we concede find the net.”

Jessica Jackson
Jessica Jackson

Marlon Vance is a tech strategist with over 15 years of experience in IT consulting, specializing in cloud solutions and digital innovation.