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Arne Slot stated he needed to “examine my own performance” following the Reds suffered a 6th defeat in 7 English top-flight matches at home against Nottingham Forest and insisted he would discover a way out of the champions’ slump.

Nottingham Forest, in the relegation zone before kick off, produced the largest victory at Liverpool's stadium in their history as the Merseyside club slipped to an eighth loss in 11 fixtures in all competitions. The most expensive domestic acquisition, Alexander Isak, was again unnoticeable and Liverpool contended Murillo’s first goal should have been disallowed for similar reasons to the captain's disallowed effort versus Manchester City prior to the national team pause. But Slot conceded the buck stopped with him and offered no alibis.

“Nobody wants to hear me now talking about refereeing decisions if you are defeated 3-0 at home to Nottingham Forest,” said the Liverpool head coach. “I ought to examine my own role first and my team, but it demonstrates you how a goal can change the momentum of a match. Earlier I was just waiting for us to net a strike. Afterwards we hardly created any chances.

“Of course there is a way out, particularly with the quality players we have. Regardless if you triumph or lose when you reflect you are always considering: ‘Where can we do better, where can we adjust?’ but that is different from questioning yourself.

“I wish to emphasise I am responsible for the present losses. You are answerable when you are victorious but also responsible when you are losing. I can never come up with enough 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 introduced multiple offensive changes when chasing the game. “It was the identical on the road at Forest the previous campaign,” he remarked. “I substituted Ibou [Ibrahima Konaté] off and brought on the Portuguese forward and he found the net straight away to make it 1-1. Then it was courageous, now it’s probably unwise.”

Liverpool previously were defeated in back-to-back at Anfield league fixtures against Nottingham Forest in 1963. The last time they suffered consecutive league matches by a 3-0 margin was in 1965.

Slot said: “It was extremely poor. Playing at home, losing 3-0 no matter which opponent you face is a terrible result. Unexpected if you consider the opening 30 minutes of the match. I haven’t seen us creating so much in the opening 30 minutes maybe the whole campaign, and the first time they arrived in our box they scored.

“It wasn’t at City, but in all other game we have been the controlling team and were able to generate opportunities. Lately it is nearly constantly that we miss our opportunities and the attempts we allow find the net.”