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Arne Slot stated he needed to “examine my own performance” after Liverpool endured a sixth loss in 7 Premier League matches on their own turf to Nottingham Forest and insisted he would discover a way out of the champions’ poor run.

Forest, fighting against the drop prior to the match, delivered the largest victory at Liverpool's stadium in their club records as the Merseyside club slipped to an eighth defeat in 11 fixtures in every tournament. The British record signing, the Swedish striker, was again anonymous and the home side contended the defender's first goal should have been ruled out for comparable grounds to the captain's disallowed effort versus City before the national team pause. But Slot conceded the responsibility rested with him and offered no alibis.

“No one wishes to hear me now talking about refereeing decisions if you are defeated 3-0 in your own stadium to Nottingham Forest,” said the Reds' boss. “I should examine myself first and my squad, but it does show you how a goal can change the momentum of a match. Before I was just waiting for us to score a goal. Afterwards we barely generated anything.

“Naturally there is a path forward, particularly with the quality footballers we have. Regardless if you win or lose when you look back you are always thinking: ‘In which areas can we improve, where can we make changes?’ but that is different from questioning 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 never provide sufficient excuses for us to have the results we have. That is far from acceptable and I am to blame for that.”

The team's performance fell apart as the coach introduced multiple attacking changes when pursuing the match. “It was the same away at Nottingham Forest the previous campaign,” he said. “I substituted Ibou [Ibrahima Konaté] off and put on [Diogo] Jota and he scored straight away to make it 1-1. Then it was brave, currently it’s probably unwise.”

Liverpool last lost back-to-back at Anfield Premier League games against Nottingham 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 on home soil, losing 3-0 regardless of which opponent you encounter is a very, very bad outcome. Surprising if you consider the opening 30 minutes of the match. I did not witness us producing so much in the initial half-hour maybe the entire season, and the initial occasion they arrived in our box they scored.

“It wasn’t against Manchester City, but in all other fixture we have been the dominant team and were able to generate opportunities. Lately it is almost consistently that we fail to convert our chances and the attempts we concede go in.”