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Arne Slot declared he needed to “look at myself” after the Reds suffered a sixth loss in seven English top-flight matches at home to Nottingham Forest and insisted he would discover a way from the champions’ slump.

Forest, fighting against the drop prior to the match, produced the largest victory at Liverpool's stadium in their club records as Liverpool slipped to an eighth loss in eleven fixtures in all competitions. The British record signing, the Swedish striker, was once more unnoticeable and the home side contended the defender's first goal should have been ruled out for comparable grounds to the captain's disallowed effort versus City prior to the national team pause. But Slot conceded the buck rested with him and made no excuses.

“Nobody wishes to listen to me now talking about officiating calls if you lose 3-0 at home to Nottingham Forest,” stated the Liverpool head coach. “I should look at my own role initially and my squad, but it demonstrates you how a score can alter the flow of a match. Before I was just waiting for us to score a goal. Later we hardly generated anything.

“Of course there is a way out, particularly with the quality footballers we have. No matter if you triumph or lose when you look back you are always thinking: ‘Where can we improve, where can we adjust?’ but that is different from questioning your abilities.

“I want to emphasise I am responsible for the present losses. You are answerable when you are winning but also responsible when you are defeated. I can never come up with sufficient excuses for us to have the outcomes we have. That is not acceptable and I am responsible for that.”

Liverpool’s performance fell apart as Slot made several attacking changes when pursuing the match. “It was the same on the road at Forest the previous campaign,” he remarked. “I substituted the French defender out and brought on [Diogo] Jota and he found the net straight away to make it 1-1. Then it was brave, now it’s probably stupid.”

Liverpool previously were defeated in two successive at Anfield league games by Nottingham Forest in 1963. The most recent occasion they suffered back-to-back top-flight matches by a three-goal scoreline was in the mid-60s.

The manager commented: “It was very bad. Competing at home, losing 3-0 no matter which team you face is a terrible outcome. Unexpected if you look at the opening 30 minutes of the game. I did not witness us creating so much in the opening 30 minutes maybe the whole campaign, and the first time they arrived in our box they found the back of the net.

“It wasn’t at City, but in every other fixture we have been the controlling team and were capable to create opportunities. Lately it is nearly consistently that we miss our opportunities and the attempts we allow go in.”