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Liverpool's head coach stated he needed to “examine my own performance” following the Reds suffered a sixth defeat in seven English top-flight games on their own turf against Nottingham Forest and insisted he would find a solution out of the champions’ slump.

Nottingham Forest, fighting against the drop before kick off, produced the largest victory at Liverpool's stadium in their club records as Liverpool slipped to an eighth loss in eleven matches in every tournament. The most expensive domestic acquisition, Alexander Isak, was once more unnoticeable and Liverpool contended Murillo’s opener should have been ruled out for similar reasons to the captain's chalked-off goal versus City prior to the international break. But the manager conceded the responsibility rested with him and offered no alibis.

“No one wishes to listen to me now speaking about refereeing decisions if you are defeated 3-0 at home to Nottingham Forest,” stated the Reds' boss. “I should examine myself first and my team, but it does show you how a goal can alter the momentum of a game. Earlier I was just hoping for us to net a strike. Afterwards we hardly generated any chances.

“Of course there is a path forward, especially with the talented footballers we have. No matter if you win or lose when you look back you are always thinking: ‘In which areas can we improve, where can we adjust?’ but that is something else from questioning yourself.

“I want to stress I am accountable for the present defeats. You are responsible when you are victorious 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 far from acceptable and I am to blame for that.”

The team's display fell apart as the coach made several attacking changes when pursuing the match. “It was the same on the road at Nottingham Forest last season,” he remarked. “I substituted Ibou [Ibrahima Konaté] off and put on the Portuguese forward and he found the net immediately to make it 1-1. Then it was courageous, now it’s probably stupid.”

The Anfield side last lost two successive home Premier League fixtures against Forest in 1963. The last time they suffered consecutive top-flight games by a 3-0 margin was in 1965.

Slot said: “It was very bad. Competing at home, conceding 3-0 no matter which opponent you encounter is a very, very bad outcome. Surprising if you look at the opening 30 minutes of the match. I did not witness us producing so many chances in the initial half-hour maybe the entire campaign, and the initial occasion they entered in our penalty area they found the back of the net.

“It wasn’t against Manchester City, but in all other fixture we have been the dominant side and were capable to generate opportunities. Recently it is almost consistently that we fail to convert our opportunities and the attempts we concede find the net.”