Liverpool's Manager Provides No Excuses and Pledges to Find Way From Malaise
Liverpool's head coach stated he needed to “look at myself” following the Reds suffered a sixth defeat in seven Premier League matches at home to Nottingham Forest and insisted he would find a solution out of the title holders' slump.
Forest, fighting against the drop prior to the match, delivered the biggest win at Liverpool's stadium in their history as Liverpool fell to an eighth defeat in eleven fixtures in all competitions. The most expensive domestic acquisition, the Swedish striker, was again unnoticeable and Liverpool argued Murillo’s first goal should have been disallowed for comparable grounds to the captain's chalked-off goal versus City before the national team pause. But the manager admitted the buck rested with him and offered no alibis.
“No one wishes to listen to me now speaking about refereeing decisions if you are defeated 3-0 in your own stadium to Forest,” said the Liverpool head coach. “I ought to examine myself initially and my squad, but it does show you how a score can alter the flow of a match. Before I was just hoping for us to score a strike. Afterwards we hardly created anything.
“Naturally there is a way out, especially with the quality footballers we have. Regardless if you win or are beaten when you reflect you are always thinking: ‘In which areas can we do better, in what aspects can we make changes?’ but that is different from questioning your abilities.
“I wish to stress I am accountable for the current defeats. You are responsible when you are victorious but also liable when you are losing. I can not provide enough excuses for us to have the outcomes we have. That is far from good enough and I am to blame for that.”
The team's performance unravelled as the coach made multiple offensive changes when pursuing the match. “It was the identical away at Nottingham Forest the previous campaign,” he said. “I took the French defender out and brought on [Diogo] Jota and he found the net immediately to equalize at 1-1. At that time it was brave, now it’s probably stupid.”
The Anfield side previously were defeated in two successive home Premier League games against Forest in 1963. The most recent occasion they suffered back-to-back top-flight matches by a three-goal scoreline was in the mid-60s.
The manager said: “It was very bad. Competing on home soil, conceding 3-0 no matter which team you face is a terrible result. Surprising if you look at the opening 30 minutes of the game. I did not witness us creating so much in the initial 30 minutes perhaps the whole campaign, and the first time they entered in our penalty area they found the back of the net.
“It did not happen at City, but in all other fixture we have been the controlling side and were capable to create opportunities. Recently it is almost constantly that we miss our opportunities and the ones we allow go in.”