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

Liverpool's head coach stated he needed to “look at myself” after Liverpool endured a sixth loss in 7 Premier League games at home to Nottingham Forest and insisted he would discover a way from the champions’ slump.

Nottingham Forest, in the relegation zone prior to the match, delivered the biggest victory at Anfield in their history as Liverpool slipped to an 8th defeat in eleven matches in all competitions. The British record signing, the Swedish striker, was again unnoticeable and Liverpool argued the defender's first goal should have been disallowed for similar reasons to the captain's chalked-off goal against City prior to the national team pause. But the manager admitted the buck rested with him and offered no alibis.

“No one wants to hear me now speaking about refereeing decisions if you lose 3-0 in your own stadium to Nottingham Forest,” said the Liverpool head coach. “I should look at my own role initially and my team, but it demonstrates you how a goal can alter the momentum of a match. Earlier I was just hoping for us to score a goal. Later we barely generated anything.

“Naturally there is a path forward, particularly with the talented footballers we have. No matter if you win or are beaten when you look back you are always considering: ‘In which areas can we do better, where can we adjust?’ but that is different from questioning yourself.

“I want to stress I am responsible for the present losses. You are answerable when you are victorious but also responsible when you are losing. I can never come up with enough excuses for us to have the outcomes we have. That is far from acceptable and I am responsible for that.”

The team's display unravelled as the coach introduced several attacking substitutions when chasing the match. “It was the same away at Nottingham Forest last season,” he said. “I substituted Ibou [Ibrahima Konaté] out and brought on the Portuguese forward and he found the net straight away to equalize at 1-1. Then it was courageous, currently it’s probably stupid.”

Liverpool last lost two successive home Premier League fixtures against Forest in the sixties. The most recent occasion they suffered consecutive top-flight games by a three-goal margin was in 1965.

The manager said: “It was extremely poor. Competing at home, losing 3-0 regardless of which opponent you encounter is a very, very bad result. Surprising if you look at the first half-hour of the game. I did not witness us creating so many chances in the opening half-hour perhaps the whole season, and the initial occasion they arrived in our penalty area they scored.

“It wasn’t at City, but in all other fixture we have been the controlling team and were able to create chances. Recently it is almost consistently that we fail to convert our opportunities and the attempts we allow find the net.”

Trevor Boone
Trevor Boone

A tech journalist and software developer with over a decade of experience covering emerging technologies and digital transformation.