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

Liverpool's head coach declared he had to “look at myself” after Liverpool endured a sixth defeat in 7 English top-flight matches at home to Forest and affirmed he would find a way out of the title holders' poor run.

Forest, fighting against the drop prior to the match, delivered the largest win at Anfield in their history as the Merseyside club slipped to an 8th defeat in 11 fixtures in all competitions. The British record signing, Alexander Isak, was once more unnoticeable and the home side argued Murillo’s opener should have been disallowed for comparable grounds to Virgil van Dijk’s chalked-off goal versus Manchester City prior to the international break. But Slot admitted the responsibility rested with him and offered no alibis.

“Nobody wishes to listen to me now speaking about refereeing decisions if you are defeated 3-0 in your own stadium to Forest,” said the Reds' boss. “I ought to examine my own role first and my squad, but it does show you how a score can alter the flow of a match. Earlier I was just waiting for us to score a strike. Later we hardly generated anything.

“Naturally there is a path forward, especially with the talented players we have. No matter if you triumph or are beaten when you look back you are always considering: ‘In which areas can we do better, in what aspects can we make changes?’ but that is something else from doubting yourself.

“I wish to stress I am responsible for the present losses. You are answerable when you are winning but also liable when you are losing. I can not provide enough reasons for us to have the outcomes we have. That is not good enough and I am to blame for that.”

The team's display unravelled as Slot made several offensive substitutions when pursuing the match. “It was the identical away at Forest the previous campaign,” he remarked. “I substituted Ibou [Ibrahima Konaté] off and put on the Portuguese forward and he scored immediately to make it 1-1. Then it was brave, now it’s likely unwise.”

The Anfield side previously were defeated in two successive home league fixtures by Nottingham Forest in the sixties. The most recent occasion they suffered consecutive top-flight matches by a 3-0 margin was in 1965.

The manager said: “It was extremely poor. Competing at home, losing 3-0 no matter which opponent you face is a very, very bad result. Surprising if you look at the first half-hour of the match. I haven’t seen us producing so much in the initial half-hour maybe the whole season, and the initial occasion they entered in our penalty area they found the back of the net.

“It did not happen at City, but in every other game we have been the controlling team and were able to create chances. Lately it is almost consistently that we fail to convert our opportunities and the attempts we concede go in.”

Michael Hoffman
Michael Hoffman

A former professional bettor turned analyst, Mikael shares data-driven insights to help bettors maximize their returns.