Liverpool's Manager Provides Zero Justifications and Pledges to Find Route Out of Slump

Liverpool's head coach declared he had to “examine my own performance” after the Reds suffered a 6th defeat in seven Premier League games at home to Nottingham Forest and affirmed he would discover a way out of the title holders' poor run.

Forest, in the relegation zone prior to the match, delivered the largest win at Anfield in their history as the Merseyside club fell to an eighth defeat in 11 fixtures in every tournament. The most expensive domestic acquisition, the Swedish striker, was once more unnoticeable and the home side contended the defender's opener should have been disallowed for comparable grounds to Virgil van Dijk’s disallowed effort versus Manchester City before the national team pause. But the manager conceded the responsibility rested with him and made no excuses.

“Nobody wants to listen to me now speaking about officiating calls if you lose 3-0 in your own stadium to Nottingham Forest,” said the Liverpool head coach. “I should look at my own role first 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 net a goal. Later we hardly generated any chances.

“Of course there is a way out, particularly with the quality footballers we have. Regardless if you win or lose when you reflect you are always considering: ‘Where can we do better, in what aspects can we make changes?’ but that is something else from doubting your abilities.

“I wish to stress I am responsible for the present losses. You are responsible when you are victorious but also responsible when you are losing. 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.”

The team's performance unravelled as the coach introduced multiple attacking changes when chasing the game. “It was the identical on the road at Nottingham Forest the previous campaign,” he remarked. “I took the French defender out and put on [Diogo] Jota 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 home Premier League fixtures by Nottingham Forest in 1963. The most recent occasion they suffered back-to-back top-flight games by a three-goal margin was in 1965.

The manager said: “It was extremely poor. Playing at home, conceding 3-0 no matter which opponent you face is a very, very bad outcome. Surprising if you look at the first half-hour of the match. I did not witness us producing so many chances in the opening half-hour 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 game we have been the controlling team and were able to create opportunities. Lately it is almost constantly that we miss our chances and the ones we concede go in.”

Mark Keith
Mark Keith

A seasoned business strategist with over 15 years of experience in helping startups scale and thrive in competitive markets.