Slot Offers Zero Justifications and Vows to Plot Route Out of Slump

Liverpool's head coach declared he had to “look at myself” following the Reds endured a 6th defeat in 7 English top-flight matches on their own turf to Forest and affirmed he would find a solution from the title holders' slump.

Nottingham Forest, fighting against the drop before kick off, delivered the largest win at Anfield in their club records as the Merseyside club slipped to an 8th defeat in eleven fixtures in all competitions. The British record signing, the Swedish striker, was once more unnoticeable and Liverpool contended Murillo’s opener ought to have been ruled out for comparable grounds to Virgil van Dijk’s disallowed effort versus Manchester City prior to the international break. But the manager admitted the responsibility stopped with him and offered no alibis.

“No one wants to hear me now speaking about refereeing decisions if you are defeated 3-0 at home to Nottingham Forest,” said the Liverpool head coach. “I should examine myself first and my squad, but it does show you how a goal can alter the flow of a game. Earlier I was just waiting for us to net a goal. Afterwards we hardly generated anything.

“Naturally there is a way out, particularly with the talented players we have. No matter if you triumph or lose when you reflect you are always thinking: ‘Where can we improve, in what aspects can we make changes?’ but that is different from questioning yourself.

“I want to stress I am accountable for the current losses. You are answerable when you are victorious but also liable when you are defeated. I can never come up with enough excuses for us to have the results we have. That is far from good enough and I am responsible for that.”

The team's display unravelled as the coach introduced multiple attacking substitutions when chasing the game. “It was the same away at Forest last season,” he said. “I substituted Ibou [Ibrahima Konaté] out and put on [Diogo] Jota and he scored immediately to make it 1-1. At that time it was courageous, now it’s probably stupid.”

The Anfield side last lost two successive home league fixtures by Nottingham Forest in the sixties. The last time they suffered back-to-back league matches by a 3-0 margin was in the mid-60s.

The manager said: “It was extremely poor. Competing on home soil, losing 3-0 regardless of which team you face is a very, very bad result. Unexpected if you look at the opening 30 minutes of the match. I did not witness us creating so much in the opening 30 minutes maybe the entire season, and the initial occasion they entered in our penalty area they found the back of the net.

“It wasn’t at City, but in all other fixture we have been the dominant team and were able to generate opportunities. Recently it is almost constantly that we fail to convert our opportunities and the ones we allow find the net.”

Kenneth Hayden
Kenneth Hayden

Lena is a tech enthusiast and software developer with a passion for gaming and digital innovation.