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Liverpool's head coach declared he needed to “examine my own performance” after the Reds suffered a sixth defeat in seven Premier League matches at home against Nottingham Forest and affirmed he would find a solution out of the title holders' slump.

Nottingham Forest, fighting against the drop before kick off, delivered the largest win at Anfield in their club records as Liverpool fell to an eighth loss in eleven fixtures in all competitions. The most expensive domestic acquisition, Alexander Isak, was again unnoticeable and Liverpool argued Murillo’s opener should have been disallowed for comparable grounds to the captain's chalked-off goal versus Manchester City prior to the national team pause. But the manager conceded the buck stopped with him and made no excuses.

“No one wishes to hear me now speaking about refereeing decisions if you are defeated 3-0 in your own stadium to Forest,” said the Liverpool head coach. “I should examine myself initially and my squad, but it demonstrates you how a goal can change the flow of a game. Earlier I was just hoping for us to score a goal. Afterwards we hardly created any chances.

“Of course there is a way out, particularly with the quality players we have. Regardless if you triumph or lose when you look back you are always considering: ‘Where can we improve, where 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 responsible when you are defeated. I can not come up with enough excuses for us to have the results we have. That is far from good enough and I am responsible for that.”

Liverpool’s performance fell apart as Slot made multiple offensive substitutions when pursuing the match. “It was the same on the road at Nottingham Forest last season,” he remarked. “I substituted Ibou [Ibrahima Konaté] off and brought on the Portuguese forward and he scored straight away to make it 1-1. Then it was courageous, currently it’s probably unwise.”

Liverpool previously were defeated in two successive home league games by Forest in the sixties. The last time they lost consecutive league games by a 3-0 scoreline was in the mid-60s.

The manager commented: “It was extremely poor. Competing at home, losing 3-0 regardless of which team you encounter is a terrible result. Unexpected if you consider the opening 30 minutes of the game. I did not witness us creating so much in the opening 30 minutes maybe the entire campaign, and the first time they entered in our box they scored.

“It did not happen at City, but in all other game we have been the controlling side and were able to generate opportunities. Recently it is almost constantly that we fail to convert our chances and the ones we concede find the net.”