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Liverpool's head coach stated he needed to “examine my own performance” following Liverpool suffered a sixth loss in 7 Premier League matches on their own turf against Nottingham Forest and insisted he would discover a solution from the champions’ poor run.

Forest, fighting against the drop prior to the match, delivered the largest victory at Liverpool's stadium in their history as the Merseyside club fell to an eighth loss in 11 fixtures in every tournament. The most expensive domestic acquisition, the Swedish striker, was again unnoticeable and the home side contended the defender's first goal ought to have been ruled out for similar reasons to the captain's disallowed effort against City prior to the national team pause. But Slot admitted the buck rested with him and made no excuses.

“No one wants to listen to me now speaking about refereeing decisions if you lose 3-0 at home to Nottingham Forest,” said the Reds' boss. “I should look at my own role initially and my squad, but it demonstrates you how a goal can change the momentum of a match. Before I was just hoping for us to net a goal. Later we barely generated anything.

“Of course there is a path forward, especially with the talented players we have. No matter if you triumph or lose when you look back you are always thinking: ‘Where can we do better, in what aspects can we make changes?’ but that is something else from questioning your abilities.

“I wish to stress I am responsible for the current defeats. You are answerable when you are victorious but also responsible when you are defeated. I can never come up with sufficient excuses for us to have the outcomes we have. That is far from acceptable and I am responsible for that.”

Liverpool’s display fell apart as Slot made multiple attacking substitutions when pursuing the match. “It was the same on the road at Forest the previous campaign,” he remarked. “I substituted Ibou [Ibrahima Konaté] off and brought on [Diogo] Jota and he scored straight away to equalize at 1-1. At that time it was brave, currently it’s likely unwise.”

Liverpool last lost back-to-back at Anfield Premier League fixtures by Nottingham Forest in 1963. The most recent occasion they suffered consecutive top-flight games by a 3-0 margin was in the mid-60s.

Slot said: “It was very bad. Competing on home soil, losing 3-0 no matter which opponent you face is a very, very bad outcome. Unexpected if you consider the opening 30 minutes of the game. I haven’t seen us producing so much in the initial 30 minutes maybe the whole campaign, and the initial occasion they arrived in our box they found the back of the net.

“It did not happen against Manchester City, but in all other fixture we have been the dominant team and were able to create opportunities. Recently it is nearly constantly that we miss our chances and the ones we allow find the net.”