Liverpool's Manager Provides Zero Justifications and Pledges to Plot Way From Malaise

Liverpool's head coach declared he needed to “look at myself” after the Reds endured a sixth defeat in seven English top-flight matches on their own turf to Nottingham Forest and insisted he would discover a solution out of the champions’ poor run.

Forest, in the relegation zone before kick off, delivered the largest victory at Liverpool's stadium in their history as Liverpool slipped to an 8th defeat in eleven fixtures in every tournament. The British record signing, Alexander Isak, was again anonymous and the home side argued Murillo’s opener ought to have been ruled out for similar reasons to Virgil van Dijk’s chalked-off goal versus Manchester City prior to the international break. But the manager admitted the buck stopped with him and made no excuses.

“Nobody wishes to hear me now talking about officiating calls if you are defeated 3-0 at home to Nottingham Forest,” stated the Reds' boss. “I ought to examine my own role first and my squad, but it does show you how a score can change the flow of a match. Earlier I was just waiting for us to score a strike. Later we hardly generated anything.

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

“I want to stress I am accountable for the current losses. You are answerable when you are victorious but also liable when you are losing. I can never provide sufficient excuses for us to have the results we have. That is not good enough and I am responsible for that.”

Liverpool’s display fell apart as the coach introduced multiple attacking substitutions when chasing the match. “It was the same away at Forest the previous campaign,” he said. “I substituted Ibou [Ibrahima Konaté] out and put on [Diogo] Jota and he scored straight away to equalize at 1-1. At that time it was brave, currently it’s likely unwise.”

The Anfield side last lost two successive home Premier League games against Nottingham Forest in 1963. The last time they lost back-to-back top-flight games by a 3-0 scoreline was in 1965.

The manager commented: “It was very bad. Playing on home soil, conceding 3-0 no matter which team you encounter is a very, very bad result. Surprising if you look at the first half-hour of the match. I haven’t seen us creating so much in the initial 30 minutes perhaps the whole season, and the initial occasion they arrived in our box they found the back of the net.

“It did not happen against Manchester City, but in all other game we have been the controlling side and were able to create chances. Recently it is almost consistently that we fail to convert our chances and the ones we allow find the net.”