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

Arne Slot stated he needed to “look at myself” after Liverpool suffered a 6th defeat in seven Premier League games on their own turf against Forest and insisted he would find a solution out of the title holders' poor run.

Forest, fighting against the drop prior to the match, delivered the biggest win at Anfield in their history as Liverpool slipped to an eighth loss in eleven fixtures in all competitions. The British record signing, the Swedish striker, was again unnoticeable and the home side argued the defender's opener should have been disallowed for comparable grounds 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 offered no alibis.

“No one wishes to hear me now speaking about officiating calls if you lose 3-0 at home to Nottingham Forest,” said the Liverpool head coach. “I ought to look at myself initially and my squad, but it does show you how a goal can alter the flow of a match. Before 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 quality footballers we have. No matter if you win 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 questioning your abilities.

“I want to emphasise I am accountable for the current defeats. You are responsible when you are victorious but also liable when you are defeated. 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.”

Liverpool’s display unravelled as Slot introduced several offensive substitutions when pursuing the game. “It was the same away at Nottingham Forest the previous campaign,” he remarked. “I took Ibou [Ibrahima Konaté] off and brought on the Portuguese forward and he found the net immediately to make it 1-1. Then it was courageous, now it’s probably stupid.”

Liverpool last lost two successive at Anfield Premier League games against Forest in 1963. The most recent occasion they lost consecutive league games by a three-goal scoreline was in the mid-60s.

The manager commented: “It was extremely poor. Playing on home soil, conceding 3-0 regardless of which team you face is a terrible outcome. Surprising if you look at the opening 30 minutes of the game. I haven’t seen us creating so much in the opening 30 minutes perhaps the whole season, 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 every other game we have been the controlling side and were able to create chances. Lately it is almost constantly that we fail to convert our opportunities and the attempts we concede go in.”

Nicholas Townsend
Nicholas Townsend

A seasoned esports analyst and coach with over a decade of experience in competitive gaming strategies.