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Liverpool's head coach stated he needed to “examine my own performance” following the Reds suffered a sixth defeat in 7 English top-flight games at home to Nottingham Forest and affirmed he would discover a solution from the title holders' poor run.

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 loss in 11 matches in all competitions. The British record signing, Alexander Isak, was again anonymous and the home side argued the defender's opener should have been disallowed for similar reasons to the captain's chalked-off goal versus City before the national team pause. But Slot admitted the buck rested with him and made no excuses.

“Nobody wants to hear me now talking about refereeing decisions if you lose 3-0 at home to Forest,” stated the Reds' boss. “I should look at myself first and my team, but it does show you how a goal can change the momentum of a match. Before I was just waiting for us to net a goal. Later we hardly generated anything.

“Of course there is a path forward, especially with the talented players we have. Regardless if you win or lose when you look back you are always thinking: ‘Where can we improve, in what aspects can we adjust?’ but that is different from doubting your abilities.

“I want to stress I am accountable for the present defeats. You are responsible when you are winning but also responsible when you are losing. 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 made multiple offensive changes when chasing the match. “It was the same on the road at Nottingham Forest last season,” he said. “I substituted Ibou [Ibrahima Konaté] out and put on [Diogo] Jota and he found the net straight away to equalize at 1-1. Then it was brave, currently it’s likely stupid.”

Liverpool previously were defeated in two successive at Anfield Premier League fixtures against Forest in the sixties. The last time they suffered consecutive league matches by a 3-0 scoreline was in 1965.

Slot said: “It was very bad. Competing at home, losing 3-0 no matter which opponent you face is a terrible result. Unexpected if you consider the opening 30 minutes of the match. I haven’t seen us creating so many chances in the opening half-hour maybe the entire season, and the initial occasion they arrived in our penalty area they found the back of the net.

“It did not happen at City, but in every other game we have been the controlling side and were able to create chances. Lately it is almost constantly that we miss our opportunities and the attempts we concede go in.”