Liverpool's Manager Offers No Excuses and Vows to Find Route From Malaise
Arne Slot declared he needed to “look at myself” after the Reds endured a 6th defeat in 7 Premier League games on their own turf to Nottingham Forest and affirmed he would find a solution out of the champions’ slump.
Forest, in the relegation zone before kick off, delivered the largest victory at Anfield in their club records as the Merseyside club slipped to an eighth defeat in 11 fixtures in all competitions. The British record signing, Alexander Isak, was once more anonymous and the home side argued Murillo’s first goal should have been disallowed for comparable grounds to the captain's chalked-off goal against City before the national team pause. But the manager conceded the buck rested with him and offered no alibis.
“Nobody wants to hear me now talking about officiating calls if you are defeated 3-0 in your own stadium to Nottingham Forest,” stated the Reds' boss. “I should examine myself initially and my squad, but it does show you how a score can alter the flow of a match. Earlier I was just hoping for us to score a goal. Afterwards we barely created anything.
“Naturally there is a way out, especially with the talented players we have. Regardless if you triumph or lose when you reflect you are always thinking: ‘Where can we improve, where can we make changes?’ but that is something else from doubting your abilities.
“I want to stress I am responsible for the present defeats. You are answerable when you are victorious but also responsible when you are losing. I can never provide sufficient excuses for us to have the outcomes we have. That is not good enough and I am responsible for that.”
The team's performance fell apart as the coach introduced several attacking substitutions when pursuing the game. “It was the identical away at Nottingham Forest last season,” he said. “I substituted the French defender out and brought on the Portuguese forward and he found the net straight away to equalize at 1-1. Then it was courageous, now it’s probably stupid.”
The Anfield side previously were defeated in two successive at Anfield Premier League games by Forest in the sixties. The last time they suffered consecutive top-flight matches by a 3-0 scoreline was in 1965.
The manager commented: “It was very bad. Playing on home soil, losing 3-0 no matter which opponent you encounter is a very, very bad result. Surprising if you consider the first half-hour of the match. I did not witness us producing so many chances in the initial 30 minutes maybe the entire season, and the first time they arrived in our penalty area they scored.
“It did not happen at City, but in all other fixture we have been the dominant team and were capable to create chances. Recently it is almost consistently that we miss our opportunities and the ones we concede go in.”