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Arne Slot stated he had to “examine my own performance” after Liverpool endured a sixth loss in 7 English top-flight games at home against Nottingham Forest and affirmed he would discover a solution out of the title holders' slump.

Forest, in the relegation zone prior to the match, produced the largest victory at Liverpool's stadium in their club records as the Merseyside club slipped to an 8th defeat in 11 matches in every tournament. The most expensive domestic acquisition, the Swedish striker, was again unnoticeable and Liverpool contended the defender's first goal should have been disallowed for comparable grounds to the captain's chalked-off goal against City prior to the national team pause. But the manager admitted the buck rested with him and made no excuses.

“No one wants to hear me now speaking about refereeing decisions if you lose 3-0 at home to Nottingham Forest,” said the Reds' boss. “I should examine myself initially and my squad, but it does show you how a score can change the momentum of a match. Earlier I was just hoping for us to score a goal. Afterwards we hardly created any chances.

“Naturally there is a path forward, especially with the quality footballers we have. No matter if you win 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 yourself.

“I want to emphasise I am responsible for the current defeats. You are answerable when you are winning but also liable when you are defeated. I can never come up with sufficient excuses for us to have the results we have. That is not good enough and I am to blame for that.”

Liverpool’s performance unravelled as the coach made several offensive substitutions when pursuing the match. “It was the same away at Nottingham Forest last season,” he said. “I took Ibou [Ibrahima Konaté] off and put on [Diogo] Jota and he scored immediately to equalize at 1-1. Then it was courageous, now it’s likely unwise.”

Liverpool previously were defeated in two successive home Premier League games against Forest in 1963. The most recent occasion they suffered consecutive top-flight games by a three-goal margin was in 1965.

The manager commented: “It was extremely poor. Playing at home, losing 3-0 regardless of which opponent you encounter is a terrible outcome. Unexpected if you look at the first half-hour of the match. I haven’t seen us creating so much in the initial 30 minutes maybe the entire season, and the initial occasion they entered 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 controlling side and were capable to generate opportunities. Lately it is nearly constantly that we miss our chances and the attempts we allow go in.”