Slot Offers Zero Justifications and Vows to Plot Route From Slump
Liverpool's head coach stated he had to “examine my own performance” after the Reds endured a 6th defeat in 7 Premier League games at home to Forest and affirmed he would discover a solution from the title holders' slump.
Nottingham Forest, in the relegation zone prior to the match, produced the largest win at Anfield in their club records as the Merseyside club fell to an eighth defeat in 11 fixtures in every tournament. The British record signing, Alexander Isak, was again unnoticeable and the home side argued the defender's opener ought to have been ruled out for similar reasons to the captain's disallowed effort against City before the international break. But Slot conceded the buck stopped with him and offered no alibis.
“No one wishes to listen to me now talking about officiating calls if you lose 3-0 at home to Forest,” stated the Reds' boss. “I ought to examine my own role first and my team, but it does show you how a goal can alter the momentum of a game. Before I was just waiting for us to score a goal. Afterwards we hardly created any chances.
“Naturally there is a path forward, especially with the quality footballers we have. Regardless if you triumph or lose when you look back you are always thinking: ‘Where can we improve, in what aspects can we make changes?’ but that is something else from doubting yourself.
“I want to stress I am responsible for the current defeats. You are responsible when you are victorious but also liable when you are losing. I can not provide sufficient excuses for us to have the results we have. That is far from acceptable and I am to blame for that.”
Liverpool’s performance fell apart as the coach made several attacking substitutions when chasing the game. “It was the same on the road at Forest last season,” he remarked. “I substituted Ibou [Ibrahima Konaté] out and put on the Portuguese forward and he scored straight away to make it 1-1. At that time it was courageous, currently it’s probably stupid.”
The Anfield side previously were defeated in two successive at Anfield Premier League games against Forest in the sixties. The last time they lost consecutive league matches by a three-goal margin was in 1965.
Slot said: “It was very bad. Playing on home soil, conceding 3-0 regardless of which team you encounter is a very, very bad outcome. Surprising if you look at the opening 30 minutes of the match. I did not witness us producing so much in the opening half-hour maybe the whole campaign, and the first time they entered in our penalty area they found the back of the net.
“It did not happen at City, but in all other game we have been the dominant team and were capable to create opportunities. Lately it is nearly consistently that we fail to convert our chances and the ones we allow find the net.”