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Arne Slot stated he had to “look at myself” following the Reds endured a 6th loss in seven English top-flight games at home to Nottingham Forest and insisted he would discover a solution out of the champions’ poor run.

Forest, fighting against the drop before kick off, produced the largest victory at Anfield in their history as Liverpool fell to an eighth defeat in 11 fixtures in all competitions. The British record signing, Alexander Isak, was again unnoticeable and the home side argued the defender's first goal should have been ruled out for similar reasons to the captain's chalked-off goal against Manchester City prior to the international break. But the manager admitted the buck stopped with him and offered no alibis.

“Nobody wants to listen to me now talking about officiating calls if you are defeated 3-0 in your own stadium to Forest,” stated the Reds' boss. “I ought to look at myself initially and my team, but it does show you how a goal can alter the momentum of a match. Earlier I was just waiting for us to score a goal. Later we hardly generated any chances.

“Naturally there is a path forward, particularly with the quality footballers we have. Regardless if you win or lose when you reflect you are always thinking: ‘In which areas can we do better, where can we adjust?’ but that is different from doubting 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 defeated. I can not come up with sufficient excuses for us to have the results we have. That is not acceptable and I am to blame for that.”

The team's performance unravelled as the coach introduced several offensive changes when pursuing the game. “It was the same away at Forest last season,” he remarked. “I substituted the French defender out and brought on the Portuguese forward and he found the net straight away to equalize at 1-1. At that time it was courageous, now it’s likely unwise.”

Liverpool previously were defeated in back-to-back home league games by Forest in 1963. The most recent occasion they lost back-to-back league games by a three-goal margin was in 1965.

The manager said: “It was very bad. Competing on home soil, losing 3-0 regardless of which team you encounter is a very, very bad outcome. Surprising if you consider the opening 30 minutes of the game. I did not witness us creating so many chances in the opening half-hour perhaps the entire season, and the initial occasion they arrived in our box they scored.

“It did not happen at City, but in all other game we have been the dominant side and were able to create chances. Recently it is nearly consistently that we fail to convert our opportunities and the attempts we allow find the net.”