Slot Offers No Excuses and Vows to Find Way Out of Slump

Liverpool's head coach declared he needed to “look at myself” following the Reds endured a 6th loss in seven Premier League matches on their own turf against Forest and insisted he would discover a way from the champions’ poor run.

Forest, fighting against the drop prior to the match, produced the biggest win at Liverpool's stadium in their history as Liverpool fell to an 8th defeat in 11 fixtures in all competitions. The British record signing, the Swedish striker, was again unnoticeable and Liverpool argued the defender's opener ought to have been ruled out for comparable grounds to the captain's chalked-off goal against City before the national team pause. But Slot conceded the buck rested with him and made no excuses.

“Nobody wishes to listen to me now speaking about officiating calls if you are defeated 3-0 at home to Nottingham Forest,” said the Liverpool head coach. “I should look at myself initially and my team, but it does show you how a goal can change the flow of a match. Before I was just waiting for us to score a goal. Later we barely generated any chances.

“Naturally there is a path forward, particularly with the talented footballers we have. No matter if you win or are beaten when you look back you are always considering: ‘In which areas can we improve, in what aspects can we make changes?’ but that is different from questioning yourself.

“I wish to emphasise I am responsible for the current defeats. You are responsible when you are victorious but also responsible when you are defeated. I can never come up with sufficient reasons for us to have the outcomes we have. That is not acceptable and I am responsible for that.”

Liverpool’s display fell apart as Slot made multiple attacking changes when pursuing the match. “It was the same on the road at Forest the previous campaign,” he said. “I took Ibou [Ibrahima Konaté] out and brought on [Diogo] Jota and he scored straight away to make it 1-1. At that time it was brave, now it’s likely unwise.”

The Anfield side previously were defeated in back-to-back home league fixtures against Forest in the sixties. The most recent occasion they suffered consecutive top-flight games by a three-goal margin was in the mid-60s.

Slot commented: “It was very bad. Playing at home, losing 3-0 regardless of which team you face is a terrible result. Surprising if you look at the first half-hour of the game. I did not witness us producing so much in the opening 30 minutes perhaps the whole campaign, and the first time they entered in our box they scored.

“It did not happen against Manchester City, but in all other game we have been the controlling side and were able to create opportunities. Lately it is almost consistently that we miss our chances and the ones we allow find the net.”

Danielle Lowe
Danielle Lowe

A professional poker coach with over a decade of experience in high-stakes tournaments and strategy development.