Liverpool's Manager Provides No Excuses and Vows to Plot Route From Malaise
Liverpool's head coach declared he had to “examine my own performance” following Liverpool suffered a 6th loss in 7 English top-flight matches on their own turf to Nottingham Forest and insisted he would discover a solution out of the champions’ poor run.
Forest, in the relegation zone prior to the match, delivered the largest win at Liverpool's stadium in their history as Liverpool slipped to an 8th defeat in eleven matches in all competitions. The British record signing, the Swedish striker, was again anonymous and the home side argued the defender's opener ought to have been ruled out for comparable grounds to the captain's chalked-off goal against City before the international break. But the manager admitted the buck stopped with him and offered no alibis.
“Nobody wants to listen to me now speaking about officiating calls if you are defeated 3-0 at home to Nottingham Forest,” stated the Liverpool head coach. “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. Afterwards we hardly created any chances.
“Naturally there is a path forward, particularly with the talented footballers we have. Regardless if you triumph or are beaten when you reflect you are always thinking: ‘Where can we do better, in what aspects can we make changes?’ but that is different from doubting your abilities.
“I wish to emphasise I am responsible for the current defeats. You are answerable when you are victorious but also responsible when you are losing. I can not come up with sufficient reasons for us to have the results we have. That is far from acceptable and I am responsible for that.”
The team's performance unravelled as the coach introduced multiple attacking changes when chasing the game. “It was the same away at Forest the previous campaign,” he said. “I took Ibou [Ibrahima Konaté] out and brought on the Portuguese forward and he scored immediately to equalize at 1-1. At that time it was courageous, now it’s probably stupid.”
Liverpool last lost two successive home league games by Nottingham Forest in 1963. The last time they lost consecutive top-flight games by a 3-0 margin was in 1965.
The manager commented: “It was very bad. Playing at home, losing 3-0 regardless of which opponent you encounter is a terrible outcome. Unexpected if you consider the first half-hour of the game. I haven’t seen us producing so much in the opening 30 minutes perhaps the whole season, and the first time they entered in our penalty area they found the back of the net.
“It wasn’t at City, but in every other game we have been the controlling team and were able to generate opportunities. Recently it is nearly constantly that we fail to convert our opportunities and the ones we concede find the net.”