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Arne Slot declared he had to “examine my own performance” after the Reds suffered a 6th loss in seven English top-flight games at home against Forest and insisted he would find a solution from the title holders' poor run.

Forest, fighting against the drop before kick off, produced the biggest victory at Anfield in their club records as the Merseyside club slipped to an eighth loss in eleven fixtures in all competitions. The British record signing, Alexander Isak, was again anonymous and Liverpool contended the defender's first goal should have been ruled out for similar reasons to Virgil van Dijk’s disallowed effort versus Manchester City before the national team pause. But the manager admitted the buck rested with him and offered no alibis.

“No one wants to hear me now talking about officiating calls if you are defeated 3-0 at home to Nottingham Forest,” stated the Liverpool head coach. “I should examine myself first and my squad, but it demonstrates you how a score can alter the momentum of a game. Before I was just waiting for us to score a strike. Afterwards we barely generated anything.

“Of course there is a path forward, especially with the talented footballers we have. No matter if you win or lose when you reflect you are always considering: ‘In which areas can we improve, in what aspects can we make changes?’ but that is something else from questioning yourself.

“I want to stress I am accountable for the current losses. You are answerable when you are victorious but also responsible when you are defeated. I can never provide sufficient reasons for us to have the results we have. That is not acceptable and I am to blame for that.”

Liverpool’s display fell apart as the coach introduced multiple offensive changes when pursuing the match. “It was the same on the road at Nottingham Forest the previous campaign,” he said. “I substituted the French defender out and put on the Portuguese forward and he scored immediately to equalize at 1-1. At that time it was brave, currently it’s likely stupid.”

Liverpool last lost back-to-back home league fixtures by Nottingham Forest in the sixties. The most recent occasion they suffered back-to-back league games by a 3-0 margin was in 1965.

The manager said: “It was very bad. Playing at home, losing 3-0 no matter which opponent you encounter is a terrible result. Unexpected if you look at the opening 30 minutes of the game. I haven’t seen us creating so much in the initial half-hour maybe the whole season, and the first time they entered in our box they found the back of the net.

“It did not happen at City, but in every other fixture we have been the dominant side and were able to create opportunities. Lately it is nearly constantly that we miss our chances and the ones we concede find the net.”