Liverpool's Manager Offers No Excuses and Vows to Plot Way Out of Malaise
Liverpool's head coach declared he had to “examine my own performance” following the Reds suffered a 6th defeat in seven Premier League games at home to Nottingham Forest and affirmed he would discover a solution out of the champions’ slump.
Nottingham Forest, in the relegation zone before kick off, delivered the largest victory at Anfield in their club records as Liverpool fell to an 8th loss in 11 fixtures in all competitions. The most expensive domestic acquisition, Alexander Isak, was again anonymous and the home side contended the defender's first goal ought to have been ruled out for comparable grounds to Virgil van Dijk’s disallowed effort against Manchester City prior to the international break. But the manager conceded the responsibility rested with him and made no excuses.
“Nobody wants to hear me now talking about officiating calls if you are defeated 3-0 at home to Forest,” said the Liverpool head coach. “I ought to examine myself initially and my team, but it does show you how a score can change the momentum of a game. Before I was just hoping for us to score a goal. Later we hardly generated anything.
“Of course there is a path forward, especially with the quality players we have. Regardless if you triumph or are beaten when you look back you are always considering: ‘Where can we improve, where can we make changes?’ but that is different from doubting your abilities.
“I wish to stress I am accountable for the current losses. You are responsible when you are winning but also responsible when you are defeated. I can not come up with sufficient reasons for us to have the outcomes we have. That is not acceptable and I am responsible for that.”
Liverpool’s display unravelled as the coach made multiple attacking substitutions when chasing the match. “It was the identical on the road at Forest last season,” he remarked. “I took Ibou [Ibrahima Konaté] out and put on [Diogo] Jota and he scored immediately to equalize at 1-1. At that time it was courageous, now it’s probably stupid.”
The Anfield side last lost back-to-back home league games against Forest in the sixties. The last time they suffered back-to-back league matches by a 3-0 margin was in 1965.
The manager commented: “It was extremely poor. Playing at home, conceding 3-0 regardless of which team you face is a very, very bad outcome. Unexpected if you look at the opening 30 minutes of the match. I did not witness us producing so many chances in the initial 30 minutes maybe the whole campaign, and the first time they arrived in our box they scored.
“It did not happen at City, but in every other fixture we have been the dominant side and were able to generate opportunities. Recently it is nearly constantly that we fail to convert our opportunities and the ones we allow find the net.”