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Liverpool's head coach declared he needed to “look at myself” following Liverpool endured a sixth loss in seven English top-flight games at home to Nottingham Forest and insisted he would find a solution out of the champions’ poor run.

Forest, fighting against the drop prior to the match, delivered the largest win at Anfield in their history as the Merseyside club fell to an 8th loss in eleven matches in all competitions. The British record signing, the Swedish striker, was again unnoticeable and the home side argued Murillo’s opener ought to have been ruled out for similar reasons to Virgil van Dijk’s chalked-off goal against Manchester City before the international break. But Slot admitted the buck stopped with him and made no excuses.

“Nobody wants to listen to me now speaking about officiating calls if you are defeated 3-0 in your own stadium to Nottingham Forest,” said the Reds' boss. “I ought to examine myself initially and my team, but it does show you how a score can alter the momentum of a match. Before I was just waiting for us to score a goal. Later we hardly generated any chances.

“Naturally there is a path forward, especially with the talented footballers we have. No matter if you triumph or lose when you look back you are always considering: ‘In which areas can we improve, where can we adjust?’ but that is different from doubting your abilities.

“I wish to stress I am responsible for the present losses. You are responsible when you are victorious but also liable when you are losing. 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 introduced several attacking changes when pursuing the match. “It was the same on the road at Forest last season,” he remarked. “I substituted the French defender off and put on the Portuguese forward and he found the net immediately to equalize at 1-1. Then it was courageous, now it’s probably stupid.”

Liverpool previously were defeated in back-to-back home league fixtures by Nottingham Forest in 1963. The last time they suffered back-to-back league matches by a three-goal scoreline was in the mid-60s.

The manager said: “It was very bad. Competing on home soil, losing 3-0 regardless of which opponent you encounter is a terrible result. Surprising if you consider the opening 30 minutes of the game. I haven’t seen us producing so much in the opening 30 minutes perhaps the whole season, and the initial occasion they arrived in our penalty area they scored.

“It wasn’t at City, but in every other game we have been the controlling team and were capable to create opportunities. Recently it is nearly constantly that we fail to convert our chances and the ones we allow go in.”