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Arne Slot declared he had to “examine my own performance” following the Reds endured a sixth defeat in 7 English top-flight matches at home against Nottingham Forest and affirmed he would find a way from the title holders' slump.

Forest, fighting against the drop prior to the match, delivered the largest victory at Anfield in their history as the Merseyside club slipped to an eighth defeat in 11 fixtures in all competitions. The most expensive domestic acquisition, Alexander Isak, was once more unnoticeable and the home side contended the defender's first goal should have been disallowed for comparable grounds to Virgil van Dijk’s disallowed effort against Manchester City prior to the international break. But the manager conceded the buck stopped with him and made no excuses.

“Nobody wishes to listen to me now speaking about refereeing decisions if you are defeated 3-0 in your own stadium to Nottingham Forest,” stated the Reds' boss. “I should examine myself initially and my squad, but it demonstrates you how a goal can alter the momentum of a game. Before I was just waiting for us to score a goal. Afterwards we barely created any chances.

“Of course there is a way out, especially with the talented players we have. No matter if you win or lose when you reflect you are always considering: ‘Where can we improve, in what aspects can we make changes?’ but that is different from questioning yourself.

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

Liverpool’s display fell apart as Slot made multiple offensive substitutions when pursuing the match. “It was the identical on the road at Forest the previous campaign,” he remarked. “I substituted Ibou [Ibrahima Konaté] off and brought on [Diogo] Jota and he found the net straight away to make it 1-1. At that time it was brave, currently it’s probably stupid.”

Liverpool last lost two successive home Premier League fixtures against Forest in the sixties. The most recent occasion they lost consecutive top-flight games by a 3-0 margin was in the mid-60s.

Slot said: “It was very bad. Playing at home, losing 3-0 no matter which team you face is a very, very bad result. Unexpected if you consider the first half-hour of the match. I did not witness us creating so much in the initial 30 minutes perhaps the entire campaign, and the initial occasion they entered in our penalty area they scored.

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