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Liverpool's head coach stated he had to “examine my own performance” following the Reds suffered a sixth defeat in 7 English top-flight matches at home to Forest and insisted he would discover a way from the title holders' poor run.

Nottingham Forest, in the relegation zone prior to the match, produced the biggest victory at Liverpool's stadium in their history as Liverpool slipped to an eighth defeat in eleven fixtures in every tournament. The British record signing, the Swedish striker, was again unnoticeable and Liverpool argued Murillo’s first goal should have been ruled out for similar reasons to Virgil van Dijk’s disallowed effort against City before the national team pause. But the manager conceded the responsibility rested with him and offered no alibis.

“No one wants to hear me now talking about refereeing decisions if you lose 3-0 at home to Forest,” said the Liverpool head coach. “I ought to look at myself first and my squad, but it does show you how a goal can change the momentum of a match. Earlier I was just waiting for us to score a goal. Later we hardly created any chances.

“Of course there is a way out, especially with the quality footballers we have. Regardless if you win or lose when you look back you are always considering: ‘Where can we do better, in what aspects can we make changes?’ but that is different from doubting your abilities.

“I wish to emphasise I am responsible for the present defeats. You are answerable when you are winning but also liable when you are defeated. I can not come up with enough excuses for us to have the results we have. That is not good enough and I am to blame for that.”

The team's performance fell apart as the coach introduced multiple attacking substitutions when chasing the game. “It was the identical away at Nottingham Forest the previous campaign,” he remarked. “I substituted Ibou [Ibrahima Konaté] out and put on [Diogo] Jota and he scored immediately to make it 1-1. At that time it was courageous, now it’s likely stupid.”

Liverpool last lost two successive at Anfield league games by Nottingham Forest in 1963. The last time they lost back-to-back top-flight matches by a 3-0 scoreline was in 1965.

Slot commented: “It was very bad. Competing at home, losing 3-0 no matter which team you face is a terrible outcome. Surprising if you look at the opening 30 minutes of the match. I did not witness us creating so many chances in the initial half-hour perhaps the whole campaign, and the first time they arrived in our penalty area they found the back of the net.

“It wasn’t at City, but in all other fixture we have been the dominant team and were capable to create chances. Recently it is almost constantly that we miss our opportunities and the ones we concede find the net.”