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Liverpool's head coach declared he had to “examine my own performance” after the Reds suffered a sixth loss in seven English top-flight matches at home to Nottingham Forest and insisted he would discover a solution out of the champions’ poor run.

Forest, in the relegation zone prior to the match, produced the biggest win at Liverpool's stadium in their history as Liverpool fell to an eighth defeat in eleven fixtures in every tournament. The most expensive domestic acquisition, the Swedish striker, was again unnoticeable and the home side contended Murillo’s first goal should have been disallowed for similar reasons to the captain's disallowed effort against Manchester City prior to the international break. But Slot conceded the buck rested with him and offered no alibis.

“No one wishes to listen to me now speaking about officiating calls if you are defeated 3-0 at home to Nottingham Forest,” stated the Liverpool head coach. “I ought to look at myself first and my squad, but it demonstrates you how a goal can change the momentum of a game. Before I was just hoping for us to net a goal. Later we barely generated anything.

“Naturally there is a way out, particularly with the talented players we have. Regardless if you triumph or are beaten when you look back you are always considering: ‘In which areas can we improve, where can we adjust?’ but that is something else from questioning yourself.

“I wish to stress I am responsible for the current losses. You are responsible when you are victorious but also liable when you are losing. I can not come up with sufficient excuses for us to have the results we have. That is not acceptable and I am responsible for that.”

Liverpool’s display fell apart as the coach made multiple offensive substitutions when pursuing the match. “It was the same away at Forest the previous campaign,” he remarked. “I took Ibou [Ibrahima Konaté] off and put on [Diogo] Jota and he found the net straight away to make it 1-1. At that time it was courageous, currently it’s probably unwise.”

Liverpool last lost back-to-back home league games against Forest in 1963. The last time they lost back-to-back top-flight matches by a three-goal margin was in the mid-60s.

Slot commented: “It was extremely poor. Playing at home, losing 3-0 regardless of which opponent you face is a terrible outcome. Surprising if you consider the opening 30 minutes of the match. I haven’t seen us producing so much in the initial 30 minutes maybe the whole season, and the initial occasion they entered in our box they found the back of the net.

“It wasn’t at City, but in all other game we have been the dominant team and were able to create opportunities. Lately it is almost consistently that we fail to convert our opportunities and the ones we allow go in.”