Slot Offers No Excuses and Vows to Plot Route From Slump

Arne Slot stated he needed to “examine my own performance” following the Reds endured a 6th defeat in 7 Premier League games on their own turf against Forest and insisted he would find a solution from the champions’ slump.

Nottingham Forest, in the relegation zone prior to the match, delivered the biggest victory at Anfield in their history as the Merseyside club fell to an 8th loss in eleven matches in all competitions. The most expensive domestic acquisition, Alexander Isak, was again unnoticeable and the home side contended the defender's opener ought to have been ruled out for similar reasons to Virgil van Dijk’s chalked-off goal against City before the national team pause. But the manager conceded the responsibility stopped with him and made no excuses.

“Nobody wants to listen to me now talking about officiating calls if you lose 3-0 at home to Forest,” said the Reds' boss. “I ought to examine myself first and my squad, but it does show you how a score can alter the momentum of a match. Earlier I was just waiting for us to score a goal. Later we barely generated anything.

“Of course there is a path forward, particularly with the quality players we have. No matter if you win or are beaten when you reflect you are always thinking: ‘Where can we improve, in what aspects can we make changes?’ but that is something else from questioning yourself.

“I wish to stress I am responsible for the current losses. You are responsible when you are winning but also responsible when you are defeated. I can not come up with enough excuses for us to have the outcomes we have. That is not good enough and I am to blame for that.”

Liverpool’s performance unravelled as Slot introduced multiple attacking changes when chasing the match. “It was the identical on the road at Forest the previous campaign,” he said. “I took the French defender out and put on [Diogo] Jota and he scored immediately to make it 1-1. At that time it was brave, currently it’s probably unwise.”

The Anfield side last lost two successive at Anfield Premier League fixtures against Nottingham Forest in 1963. The last time they suffered consecutive league matches by a three-goal scoreline was in 1965.

Slot said: “It was extremely poor. Competing on home soil, conceding 3-0 regardless of which opponent you face is a terrible outcome. Unexpected if you look at the opening 30 minutes of the match. I haven’t seen us producing so much in the initial 30 minutes maybe the whole season, and the initial occasion they arrived in our penalty area they found the back of the net.

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

Ronald Cox
Ronald Cox

A storyteller and life coach who shares real-world experiences to empower others in their personal and professional journeys.