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Arne Slot declared he needed to “examine my own performance” after Liverpool suffered a sixth loss in 7 English top-flight matches at home to Nottingham Forest and insisted he would find a way from the title holders' slump.

Nottingham Forest, in the relegation zone prior to the match, produced the largest win at Anfield in their history as the Merseyside club slipped to an 8th loss in 11 matches in every tournament. The British record signing, the Swedish striker, was again anonymous and Liverpool contended the defender's first goal should have been ruled out for similar reasons to the captain's disallowed effort against City prior to the international break. But Slot conceded the buck stopped with him and offered no alibis.

“Nobody wants to hear me now speaking about officiating calls if you are defeated 3-0 at home to Forest,” stated the Reds' boss. “I ought to look at myself first and my squad, but it demonstrates you how a score can alter the momentum of a match. Before I was just hoping for us to net a strike. Later we barely created any chances.

“Naturally there is a path forward, especially with the quality players we have. Regardless if you win or lose when you reflect you are always thinking: ‘Where can we improve, where can we adjust?’ but that is different from doubting your abilities.

“I want to stress I am accountable for the present losses. You are responsible when you are victorious but also liable when you are losing. I can never provide enough excuses for us to have the results we have. That is not acceptable and I am to blame for that.”

The team's performance fell apart as Slot introduced multiple offensive substitutions when pursuing the match. “It was the same on the road at Forest the previous campaign,” he said. “I substituted Ibou [Ibrahima Konaté] out and put on [Diogo] Jota and he found the net immediately to equalize at 1-1. At that time it was courageous, currently it’s likely unwise.”

Liverpool last lost back-to-back at Anfield league fixtures against Nottingham Forest in 1963. The last time they suffered back-to-back top-flight matches by a 3-0 margin was in 1965.

The manager said: “It was very bad. Competing at home, conceding 3-0 regardless of which opponent you encounter is a very, very bad result. Surprising if you look at the first half-hour of the game. I haven’t seen us creating so much in the initial 30 minutes maybe the entire season, and the first time they entered in our box they scored.

“It did not happen at City, but in every other game we have been the controlling side and were able to generate chances. Lately it is nearly consistently that we fail to convert our opportunities and the ones we concede go in.”