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Arne Slot stated he needed to “look at myself” following Liverpool endured a 6th loss in seven English top-flight games on their own turf against Nottingham Forest and insisted he would discover a way out of the champions’ poor run.

Forest, fighting against the drop prior to the match, produced the biggest victory at Anfield in their history as the Merseyside club fell to an eighth loss in eleven matches in all competitions. The British record signing, the Swedish striker, was again unnoticeable and the home side contended the defender's opener should have been ruled out for comparable grounds to Virgil van Dijk’s disallowed effort versus City prior to the national team pause. But the manager conceded the responsibility rested with him and made no excuses.

“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 Reds' boss. “I ought to look at my own role initially and my squad, but it does show you how a goal can change the flow of a game. Earlier I was just hoping for us to net a strike. Afterwards we hardly generated anything.

“Naturally there is a path forward, particularly with the talented footballers we have. No matter if you win or lose when you look back you are always considering: ‘In which areas can we do better, in what aspects can we make changes?’ but that is different from doubting your abilities.

“I want to stress I am responsible for the present losses. You are answerable when you are victorious but also liable when you are losing. I can not come up with sufficient excuses for us to have the outcomes we have. That is far from good enough and I am to blame for that.”

Liverpool’s display unravelled as the coach made several offensive substitutions when chasing the match. “It was the same on the road at Forest the previous campaign,” he said. “I took the French defender off and put on the Portuguese forward and he found the net straight away to equalize at 1-1. Then it was courageous, now it’s likely unwise.”

The Anfield side previously were defeated in back-to-back home league fixtures against Nottingham Forest in the sixties. The most recent occasion they lost back-to-back league games by a three-goal scoreline was in 1965.

The manager commented: “It was extremely poor. Competing on home soil, losing 3-0 no matter which team you face is a very, very bad outcome. Surprising if you consider the opening 30 minutes of the match. I haven’t seen us producing so much in the initial 30 minutes perhaps the whole season, and the initial occasion they entered in our penalty area they found the back of the net.

“It wasn’t at City, but in every other fixture we have been the dominant side and were able to create opportunities. Recently it is nearly consistently that we fail to convert our opportunities and the attempts we concede go in.”