Liverpool's Manager Provides No Excuses and Vows to Find Way Out of Malaise
Liverpool's head coach declared he had to “examine my own performance” after the Reds suffered a sixth loss in 7 Premier League matches on their own turf against Forest and affirmed he would discover a solution out of the title holders' poor run.
Nottingham Forest, fighting against the drop prior to the match, delivered the biggest victory at Liverpool's stadium in their club records as Liverpool slipped to an 8th defeat in 11 matches in all competitions. 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 similar reasons to Virgil van Dijk’s disallowed effort versus Manchester City prior to the international break. But the manager conceded the buck stopped with him and offered no alibis.
“No one wants to listen to me now talking about refereeing decisions if you are defeated 3-0 at home to Forest,” said the Reds' boss. “I ought to examine myself first and my team, but it does show you how a goal can change the flow of a match. Earlier I was just waiting for us to net a strike. Afterwards we barely generated anything.
“Of course there is a path forward, particularly with the quality players we have. Regardless if you triumph or are beaten when you reflect you are always considering: ‘In which areas can we do better, in what aspects can we adjust?’ but that is something else from doubting yourself.
“I want to emphasise I am accountable for the current defeats. You are responsible when you are winning but also liable when you are defeated. I can never provide enough excuses for us to have the results we have. That is far from good enough and I am responsible for that.”
The team's display fell apart as the coach introduced multiple offensive substitutions when chasing the match. “It was the identical on the road at Forest the previous campaign,” he remarked. “I took Ibou [Ibrahima Konaté] off and brought on [Diogo] Jota and he scored immediately to make it 1-1. At that time it was courageous, now it’s probably stupid.”
The Anfield side previously were defeated in back-to-back at Anfield Premier League fixtures against Forest in the sixties. The last time they suffered consecutive league matches by a 3-0 margin was in the mid-60s.
The manager commented: “It was very bad. Playing at home, conceding 3-0 no matter which team you face is a terrible outcome. Surprising if you consider the opening 30 minutes of the game. I did not witness us producing so many chances in the initial half-hour maybe the whole season, and the first time they entered in our penalty area they found the back of the net.
“It did not happen against Manchester City, but in every other fixture we have been the controlling team and were capable to generate opportunities. Lately it is almost consistently that we fail to convert our chances and the attempts we allow go in.”