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Liverpool's head coach declared he had to “examine my own performance” after Liverpool endured a 6th defeat in seven English top-flight games on their own turf to Nottingham Forest and insisted he would discover a solution out of the title holders' slump.

Forest, fighting against the drop before kick off, produced the biggest win at Anfield in their history as the Merseyside club fell to an 8th defeat in eleven matches in all competitions. The most expensive domestic acquisition, Alexander Isak, was again unnoticeable and the home side contended the defender's first goal ought to have been ruled out for similar reasons to Virgil van Dijk’s chalked-off goal against City before the international break. But Slot conceded the responsibility rested with him and offered no alibis.

“Nobody wants to listen to me now talking about officiating calls if you are defeated 3-0 in your own stadium to Forest,” stated the Liverpool head coach. “I should examine myself initially and my squad, but it demonstrates you how a score can change the flow of a match. Before I was just waiting for us to net a goal. Afterwards we barely generated any chances.

“Naturally there is a path forward, especially with the quality footballers we have. No matter if you triumph or are beaten when you reflect you are always considering: ‘Where can we improve, where can we adjust?’ but that is something else from questioning your abilities.

“I want to stress I am accountable for the present defeats. You are responsible when you are winning but also liable when you are defeated. I can never come up with sufficient excuses for us to have the results we have. That is far from acceptable and I am responsible for that.”

Liverpool’s performance unravelled as Slot made multiple attacking changes when chasing the game. “It was the same on the road at Nottingham Forest the previous campaign,” he said. “I took Ibou [Ibrahima Konaté] off and put on [Diogo] Jota and he scored straight away to make it 1-1. At that time it was brave, currently it’s likely unwise.”

Liverpool last lost back-to-back home Premier League fixtures by Forest in the sixties. The most recent occasion they lost consecutive top-flight games by a three-goal scoreline was in the mid-60s.

Slot commented: “It was very bad. Playing at home, conceding 3-0 no matter which opponent you encounter is a terrible outcome. Unexpected if you look at the opening 30 minutes of the game. I haven’t seen us producing so many chances in the opening half-hour maybe the whole campaign, and the first time they arrived in our penalty area they scored.

“It did not happen at City, but in all other fixture we have been the controlling team and were able to create opportunities. Recently it is nearly constantly that we miss our opportunities and the attempts we concede find the net.”