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Liverpool's head coach stated he needed to “examine my own performance” after the Reds endured a 6th loss in 7 English top-flight games at home against Nottingham Forest and affirmed he would discover a way from the title holders' poor run.

Forest, fighting against the drop prior to the match, delivered the largest victory at Anfield in their club records as the Merseyside club slipped to an eighth defeat in 11 fixtures in all competitions. The most expensive domestic acquisition, the Swedish striker, was once more unnoticeable and the home side argued the defender's first goal ought to have been ruled out for similar reasons to the captain's chalked-off goal versus City before the international break. But Slot conceded the buck stopped with him and made no excuses.

“Nobody wants to hear me now speaking about refereeing decisions if you lose 3-0 at home to Forest,” said the Liverpool head coach. “I should examine myself first and my squad, but it does show you how a score can alter the momentum of a game. Earlier I was just waiting for us to score a goal. Afterwards we hardly created any chances.

“Naturally there is a way out, 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, in what aspects can we make changes?’ but that is something else from questioning yourself.

“I wish to emphasise I am responsible for the current losses. You are answerable when you are winning but also responsible when you are defeated. I can not come up with sufficient reasons for us to have the outcomes we have. That is far from good enough and I am responsible for that.”

Liverpool’s display fell apart as the coach made multiple offensive substitutions when pursuing the game. “It was the same on the road at Nottingham Forest the previous campaign,” he remarked. “I substituted the French defender off and brought on [Diogo] Jota and he found the net straight away to make it 1-1. Then it was courageous, currently it’s probably unwise.”

The Anfield side previously were defeated in two successive home league fixtures against Forest in the sixties. The most recent occasion they lost consecutive league games by a 3-0 scoreline was in 1965.

The manager commented: “It was very bad. Playing on home soil, conceding 3-0 no matter which team you face is a very, very bad result. Surprising if you consider the first half-hour of the game. I did not witness us creating so much in the opening 30 minutes maybe the entire campaign, and the first time they entered in our box they found the back of the net.

“It wasn’t at City, but in every other game we have been the dominant side and were able to create opportunities. Lately it is almost constantly that we fail to convert our chances and the ones we allow find the net.”