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

Nottingham Forest, fighting against the drop before kick off, produced the biggest victory at Anfield in their history as the Merseyside club fell to an 8th loss in 11 fixtures in all competitions. The British record signing, the Swedish striker, was once more anonymous and Liverpool argued the defender's first goal ought to have been ruled out for similar reasons to Virgil van Dijk’s chalked-off goal versus Manchester City before the international break. But Slot conceded the responsibility rested with him and offered no alibis.

“No one wants to listen to me now speaking about officiating calls if you are defeated 3-0 in your own stadium to Forest,” said the Reds' boss. “I ought to look at my own role initially and my squad, but it does show you how a goal can alter the momentum of a match. Earlier I was just hoping for us to score a strike. Later we hardly generated anything.

“Naturally there is a path forward, particularly with the talented players we have. No matter if you win or lose when you look back you are always thinking: ‘In which areas can we do better, where can we make changes?’ but that is something else from questioning yourself.

“I want to stress I am accountable for the current 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 outcomes we have. That is not acceptable and I am responsible for that.”

The team's display unravelled as the coach introduced multiple attacking substitutions when pursuing the game. “It was the same away at Nottingham Forest the previous campaign,” he said. “I substituted the French defender off and brought on [Diogo] Jota and he found the net straight away to make it 1-1. Then it was brave, now it’s likely stupid.”

Liverpool last lost two successive at Anfield Premier League games by Forest in the sixties. The most recent occasion they lost consecutive league games by a three-goal margin was in 1965.

The manager commented: “It was very bad. Playing at home, losing 3-0 no matter which team you encounter is a very, very bad result. Unexpected if you consider the opening 30 minutes of the game. I did not witness us producing so much in the opening 30 minutes perhaps the entire campaign, and the first time they entered in our penalty area they scored.

“It did not happen against Manchester City, but in all other game we have been the controlling team and were capable to create chances. Recently it is nearly consistently that we miss our opportunities and the attempts we allow go in.”