Slot Offers Zero Justifications and Pledges to Find Way From Slump
Liverpool's head coach stated he needed to “look at myself” after Liverpool endured a sixth defeat in 7 English top-flight matches at home against Nottingham Forest and insisted he would find a solution from the title holders' poor run.
Nottingham Forest, in the relegation zone prior to the match, produced the largest victory at Liverpool's stadium in their history as Liverpool fell to an 8th loss in eleven fixtures in all competitions. The British record signing, the Swedish striker, was again anonymous and Liverpool contended Murillo’s opener should have been disallowed for similar reasons to the captain's chalked-off goal against Manchester City before the national team pause. But the manager conceded the responsibility stopped with him and offered no alibis.
“No one wishes to listen to me now speaking about refereeing decisions if you lose 3-0 at home to Nottingham Forest,” said the Reds' boss. “I should examine myself first and my squad, but it does show you how a score can change the momentum of a match. Before I was just waiting for us to net a strike. Later we hardly generated any chances.
“Of course there is a path forward, particularly with the quality footballers we have. No matter if you win or lose when you reflect you are always considering: ‘Where can we improve, where can we make changes?’ but that is something else from doubting yourself.
“I wish to emphasise I am accountable for the current losses. You are responsible 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 to blame for that.”
Liverpool’s display unravelled as the coach introduced multiple offensive changes when chasing the game. “It was the identical on the road at Nottingham Forest last season,” 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 courageous, now it’s likely stupid.”
The Anfield side previously were defeated in back-to-back home Premier League games by Nottingham Forest in 1963. The most recent occasion they lost back-to-back top-flight games by a 3-0 scoreline was in 1965.
The manager commented: “It was extremely poor. Playing on home soil, conceding 3-0 regardless of which opponent you face is a very, very bad result. Unexpected if you consider the opening 30 minutes of the game. I haven’t seen us producing so much in the initial 30 minutes maybe the entire campaign, and the first time they arrived in our penalty area they found the back of the net.
“It wasn’t at City, but in every other game we have been the controlling team and were capable to create chances. Recently it is nearly constantly that we miss our opportunities and the ones we allow find the net.”