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Arne Slot declared he needed to “examine my own performance” following the Reds endured a 6th loss in 7 English top-flight matches at home against Nottingham Forest and insisted he would find a solution from the title holders' slump.

Nottingham Forest, fighting against the drop prior to the match, produced the biggest win at Anfield in their club records as the Merseyside club slipped to an 8th defeat in eleven matches in all competitions. The most expensive domestic acquisition, Alexander Isak, was once more anonymous and the home side argued Murillo’s opener ought to have been ruled out for similar reasons to Virgil van Dijk’s disallowed effort versus City prior to the international break. But Slot admitted the buck stopped with him and offered no alibis.

“Nobody wishes to listen to me now talking about officiating calls if you lose 3-0 in your own stadium to Nottingham Forest,” said the Liverpool head coach. “I should examine my own role first and my team, but it does show you how a score can change the momentum of a match. Earlier I was just hoping for us to score a goal. Later we hardly created anything.

“Naturally there is a way out, especially with the talented footballers we have. No matter if you triumph or are beaten when you reflect you are always thinking: ‘In which areas can we improve, where can we make changes?’ but that is something else from doubting yourself.

“I wish to emphasise I am responsible for the current defeats. You are responsible when you are victorious but also responsible when you are defeated. I can never provide enough excuses for us to have the results we have. That is not acceptable and I am to blame for that.”

Liverpool’s performance unravelled as Slot introduced multiple offensive substitutions when chasing the match. “It was the identical on the road at Forest last season,” he remarked. “I took Ibou [Ibrahima Konaté] off and brought on the Portuguese forward and he found the net straight away to make it 1-1. At that time it was brave, now it’s likely stupid.”

Liverpool last lost two successive home Premier League fixtures against Forest in the sixties. The last time they lost back-to-back league matches by a three-goal scoreline was in the mid-60s.

The manager commented: “It was extremely poor. Competing at home, conceding 3-0 no matter which opponent you face is a very, very bad result. Surprising if you look at the first half-hour of the match. I haven’t seen us producing so much in the initial half-hour maybe the entire campaign, and the initial occasion they entered in our box they found the back of the net.

“It wasn’t at City, but in every other game we have been the dominant side and were capable to create opportunities. Recently it is almost constantly that we miss our opportunities and the attempts we concede find the net.”