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Liverpool's head coach declared he had to “look at myself” after Liverpool endured a 6th loss in 7 English top-flight matches at home to Nottingham Forest and insisted he would discover a solution from the title holders' poor run.

Forest, fighting against the drop prior to the match, delivered the largest victory at Liverpool's stadium in their club records as the Merseyside club fell to an 8th loss in 11 matches in all competitions. The most expensive domestic acquisition, the Swedish striker, was once more anonymous and the home side contended the defender's opener should have been ruled out for comparable grounds to Virgil van Dijk’s chalked-off goal versus City prior to the international break. But Slot conceded the buck stopped with him and offered no alibis.

“No one wants to listen to me now talking about refereeing decisions if you lose 3-0 in your own stadium to Nottingham Forest,” said the Reds' boss. “I ought to look at my own role initially and my team, but it does show you how a goal can change the momentum of a match. Before I was just hoping for us to score a strike. Later we barely generated any chances.

“Naturally there is a way out, especially with the talented footballers we have. No matter if you triumph or lose when you reflect you are always thinking: ‘Where can we improve, where can we adjust?’ but that is different from doubting yourself.

“I wish to emphasise I am accountable for the current defeats. You are responsible when you are winning but also liable when you are defeated. I can not come up with sufficient excuses for us to have the outcomes we have. That is far from acceptable and I am responsible for that.”

Liverpool’s performance unravelled as the coach introduced multiple offensive changes when pursuing the game. “It was the same on the road at Forest last season,” he remarked. “I took Ibou [Ibrahima Konaté] out and put on the Portuguese forward and he found the net straight away to make it 1-1. At that time it was brave, currently it’s probably stupid.”

Liverpool previously were defeated in two successive at Anfield Premier League games against Forest in the sixties. The most recent occasion they suffered back-to-back league matches by a 3-0 margin was in 1965.

Slot said: “It was extremely poor. Playing at home, conceding 3-0 no matter which team you encounter is a terrible outcome. Surprising if you look at the first half-hour of the match. I did not witness us producing so many chances in the opening 30 minutes perhaps the whole season, and the initial occasion they entered in our penalty area they scored.

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