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Arne Slot declared he needed to “examine my own performance” after the Reds suffered a sixth defeat in 7 Premier League games at home to Forest and insisted he would discover a solution out of the title holders' slump.

Forest, in the relegation zone before kick off, delivered the biggest win at Liverpool's stadium in their club records as Liverpool slipped to an eighth loss in 11 matches in all competitions. The British record signing, the Swedish striker, was again unnoticeable and the home side contended the defender's opener should have been ruled out for comparable grounds to Virgil van Dijk’s chalked-off goal against Manchester City prior to the international break. But the manager admitted the buck rested with him and offered no alibis.

“Nobody wishes to listen to me now talking about refereeing decisions if you are defeated 3-0 in your own stadium to Nottingham Forest,” said the Liverpool head coach. “I should examine myself initially and my squad, but it does show you how a goal can alter the flow of a game. Earlier I was just hoping for us to net a strike. Afterwards we hardly created any chances.

“Naturally there is a path forward, particularly with the quality footballers we have. Regardless if you win or are beaten when you reflect you are always considering: ‘Where can we improve, in what aspects can we make changes?’ but that is different from questioning yourself.

“I want to stress I am responsible for the current losses. You are answerable when you are winning but also responsible when you are losing. I can not come up with sufficient reasons for us to have the outcomes we have. That is not acceptable and I am to blame for that.”

The team's display fell apart as Slot made several attacking substitutions when chasing the match. “It was the identical on the road at Nottingham Forest last season,” he said. “I substituted the French defender out and put on the Portuguese forward and he found the net immediately to make it 1-1. Then it was courageous, currently it’s likely stupid.”

The Anfield side previously were defeated in two successive home Premier League games against Nottingham Forest in 1963. The last time they lost back-to-back top-flight matches by a three-goal scoreline was in the mid-60s.

The manager said: “It was very bad. Competing at home, conceding 3-0 regardless of which opponent you face is a terrible result. Unexpected if you consider the first half-hour of the game. I did not witness us creating so many chances in the initial 30 minutes perhaps the entire campaign, and the initial occasion they arrived in our penalty area they scored.

“It did not happen against Manchester City, but in all other fixture we have been the controlling side and were capable to create chances. Lately it is almost constantly that we fail to convert our opportunities and the attempts we concede go in.”