Slot Provides Zero Justifications and Pledges to Find Way Out of Malaise

Liverpool's head coach stated he had to “examine my own performance” following the Reds endured a 6th loss in seven English top-flight matches on their own turf against Nottingham Forest and insisted he would find a way from the title holders' 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 slipped to an eighth defeat in eleven fixtures in every tournament. The most expensive domestic acquisition, Alexander Isak, was once more unnoticeable and Liverpool argued Murillo’s opener ought to have been disallowed for similar reasons to Virgil van Dijk’s chalked-off goal versus City before the national team pause. But the manager conceded the responsibility rested with him and made no excuses.

“Nobody wishes to hear me now talking about refereeing decisions if you lose 3-0 in your own stadium to Forest,” stated the Liverpool head coach. “I ought to examine myself initially and my squad, but it does show you how a goal can change the flow of a game. Before I was just hoping for us to score a strike. Afterwards we barely generated any chances.

“Naturally there is a path forward, particularly with the talented players we have. No matter if you triumph or lose when you reflect you are always considering: ‘In which areas can we improve, where can we make changes?’ but that is different from doubting yourself.

“I want to emphasise I am accountable for the current losses. You are responsible when you are victorious but also responsible when you are defeated. I can never come up with enough reasons for us to have the outcomes we have. That is far from good enough and I am to blame for that.”

Liverpool’s display unravelled as the coach made several offensive changes when chasing the match. “It was the identical away at Nottingham Forest the previous campaign,” he remarked. “I took Ibou [Ibrahima Konaté] off and brought on [Diogo] Jota and he scored straight away to equalize at 1-1. At that time it was courageous, now it’s probably stupid.”

Liverpool last lost back-to-back home league fixtures against Forest in 1963. The last time they suffered back-to-back league matches by a three-goal scoreline was in 1965.

The manager said: “It was extremely poor. Competing on home soil, losing 3-0 no matter which opponent you face is a terrible outcome. Surprising if you look at the first half-hour of the match. I haven’t seen us producing so many chances in the initial half-hour perhaps the entire season, and the initial occasion they arrived in our box they scored.

“It wasn’t against Manchester City, but in every other fixture we have been the controlling team and were able to create opportunities. Recently it is nearly constantly that we miss our chances and the ones we allow go in.”

Wayne Hall
Wayne Hall

Wildlife biologist and conservationist with over a decade of experience studying sloths in Central and South America.