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Arne Slot stated he had to “look at myself” following Liverpool endured a sixth defeat in 7 English top-flight games at home to Nottingham Forest and affirmed he would find a way from the champions’ poor run.

Nottingham Forest, fighting against the drop prior to the match, produced the biggest victory at Liverpool's stadium in their history as Liverpool slipped to an eighth defeat in 11 matches in all competitions. The British record signing, the Swedish striker, was once more unnoticeable and the home side argued the defender's opener should have been ruled out for similar reasons to Virgil van Dijk’s disallowed effort against Manchester City before the national team pause. But the manager admitted the buck rested with him and offered no alibis.

“Nobody wishes to hear me now talking about officiating calls if you lose 3-0 in your own stadium to Forest,” stated the Liverpool head coach. “I should look at myself first and my squad, but it demonstrates you how a goal can change the momentum of a match. Before I was just waiting for us to net a goal. Afterwards we hardly generated any chances.

“Naturally there is a way out, especially with the quality players we have. Regardless if you win or lose when you reflect you are always considering: ‘In which areas can we do better, where can we adjust?’ but that is different from questioning your abilities.

“I wish to stress I am accountable for the present losses. You are responsible when you are victorious but also liable when you are defeated. I can not come up with enough excuses for us to have the results we have. That is far from acceptable and I am to blame for that.”

Liverpool’s performance unravelled as Slot made several attacking changes when pursuing the game. “It was the same away at Nottingham Forest the previous campaign,” he remarked. “I took Ibou [Ibrahima Konaté] off and brought on the Portuguese forward and he found the net straight away to equalize at 1-1. Then it was courageous, now it’s probably stupid.”

The Anfield side last lost two successive home league games by Nottingham Forest in the sixties. The last time they suffered consecutive top-flight games by a 3-0 margin was in the mid-60s.

Slot said: “It was extremely poor. Competing at home, conceding 3-0 no matter which opponent you encounter is a very, very bad outcome. Unexpected if you consider the opening 30 minutes of the game. I did not witness us producing so many chances in the initial 30 minutes maybe the whole season, and the initial occasion they arrived in our box they scored.

“It wasn’t against Manchester City, but in all other fixture we have been the controlling side and were able to generate chances. Lately it is almost constantly that we miss our opportunities and the ones we concede find the net.”