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Arne Slot stated he needed to “look at myself” after the Reds endured a 6th loss in seven Premier League games on their own turf against Nottingham Forest and insisted he would discover a solution out of the champions’ slump.

Forest, in the relegation zone prior to the match, delivered the largest victory at Anfield in their history as Liverpool slipped to an 8th loss in 11 matches in every tournament. The most expensive domestic acquisition, the Swedish striker, was again anonymous and the home side argued the defender's first goal should have been ruled out for comparable grounds to the captain's chalked-off goal against City before the international break. But the manager admitted the buck rested with him and made no excuses.

“No one wishes to listen to me now speaking about refereeing decisions if you lose 3-0 in your own stadium to Forest,” said the Liverpool head coach. “I ought to look at myself first and my squad, but it demonstrates you how a goal can change the flow of a match. Before I was just hoping for us to score a goal. Afterwards we hardly created anything.

“Of course there is a way out, particularly with the quality footballers we have. No matter if you triumph or are beaten when you look back you are always thinking: ‘In which areas can we do better, where can we adjust?’ but that is something else from questioning your abilities.

“I wish to stress I am accountable for the current losses. You are answerable when you are victorious but also responsible when you are defeated. I can not come up with sufficient excuses for us to have the results we have. That is far from acceptable and I am responsible for that.”

The team's display unravelled as the coach introduced several attacking substitutions when pursuing the match. “It was the same away at Forest last season,” he said. “I substituted Ibou [Ibrahima Konaté] off and put on [Diogo] Jota and he scored straight away to make it 1-1. Then it was brave, now it’s likely unwise.”

Liverpool last lost back-to-back home Premier League fixtures by Forest in the sixties. The last time they suffered consecutive top-flight matches by a 3-0 margin was in the mid-60s.

Slot commented: “It was extremely poor. Competing at home, losing 3-0 no matter which team you encounter is a very, very bad result. Surprising if you look at the opening 30 minutes of the game. I did not witness us producing so much in the initial half-hour maybe the entire campaign, and the initial occasion they arrived in our box they scored.

“It wasn’t against Manchester City, but in every other fixture we have been the dominant team and were capable to generate chances. Lately it is nearly consistently that we miss our chances and the ones we concede find the net.”