🔗 Share this article

Liverpool's head coach declared he had to “examine my own performance” following Liverpool suffered a 6th defeat in 7 Premier League matches on their own turf against Nottingham Forest and affirmed he would find a way out of the champions’ slump.

Nottingham Forest, in the relegation zone before kick off, delivered the biggest victory at Anfield in their history as the Merseyside club fell to an 8th defeat in eleven fixtures in every tournament. The most expensive domestic acquisition, the Swedish striker, was again anonymous and the home side contended the defender's first goal ought to have been ruled out for similar reasons to Virgil van Dijk’s disallowed effort versus Manchester City prior to the international break. But the manager conceded the buck stopped with him and made no excuses.

“No one wishes to hear me now speaking about officiating calls if you are defeated 3-0 at home to Forest,” said the Liverpool head coach. “I ought to examine myself first and my team, but it demonstrates you how a goal can change the momentum of a match. Earlier I was just hoping for us to net a strike. Afterwards we barely created anything.

“Naturally there is a way out, particularly with the quality players we have. No matter if you triumph or lose when you reflect you are always considering: ‘In which areas can we improve, in what aspects can we adjust?’ but that is something else from questioning your abilities.

“I wish to emphasise I am responsible for the present defeats. You are responsible when you are winning but also responsible when you are defeated. I can never come up with sufficient reasons for us to have the outcomes we have. That is not acceptable and I am to blame for that.”

The team's performance unravelled as the coach made multiple attacking substitutions when chasing the match. “It was the same on the road at Forest last season,” he remarked. “I substituted Ibou [Ibrahima Konaté] out and put on [Diogo] Jota and he scored immediately to make it 1-1. Then it was brave, currently it’s probably unwise.”

The Anfield side previously were defeated in two successive home Premier League fixtures against Forest in 1963. The last time they lost consecutive top-flight matches by a 3-0 margin was in the mid-60s.

The manager commented: “It was extremely poor. Playing on home soil, conceding 3-0 no matter which opponent you face is a very, very bad outcome. Surprising if you look at the opening 30 minutes of the match. I haven’t seen us creating so many chances in the opening 30 minutes maybe the whole campaign, and the first time they entered in our penalty area they found the back of the net.

“It wasn’t at City, but in every other fixture we have been the dominant team and were able to generate chances. Lately it is nearly constantly that we miss our chances and the attempts we concede go in.”