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Liverpool's head coach stated he needed to “look at myself” after the Reds suffered a sixth defeat in seven English top-flight games on their own turf against Nottingham Forest and insisted he would discover a way out of the champions’ poor run.

Forest, in the relegation zone before kick off, delivered the largest victory at Liverpool's stadium in their club records as the Merseyside club slipped to an eighth defeat in 11 matches in all competitions. The most expensive domestic acquisition, the Swedish striker, was again unnoticeable and the home side contended the defender's opener should have been disallowed for similar reasons to the captain's disallowed effort versus Manchester City prior to the national team pause. But the manager conceded the buck rested with him and made no excuses.

“Nobody wishes to listen to me now speaking about officiating calls if you lose 3-0 at home to Forest,” said the Reds' boss. “I ought to look at myself first and my squad, but it does show you how a score can change the momentum of a match. Earlier I was just hoping for us to net a goal. Afterwards we hardly generated any chances.

“Naturally there is a path forward, particularly with the talented footballers we have. Regardless if you win or lose when you look back you are always thinking: ‘Where can we improve, where can we adjust?’ but that is something else from questioning yourself.

“I want to emphasise I am accountable for the current losses. You are answerable when you are winning but also liable when you are defeated. I can not come up with sufficient reasons 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 Slot introduced several offensive substitutions when pursuing the game. “It was the same on the road at Nottingham Forest the previous campaign,” he said. “I took Ibou [Ibrahima Konaté] off and brought on the Portuguese forward and he found the net straight away to equalize at 1-1. Then it was brave, currently it’s probably stupid.”

Liverpool last lost two successive at Anfield Premier League fixtures by Forest in 1963. The most recent occasion they suffered back-to-back league matches by a 3-0 scoreline was in the mid-60s.

Slot commented: “It was very bad. Competing at home, losing 3-0 no matter which opponent you encounter is a very, very bad result. Unexpected if you look at the first half-hour of the match. I did not witness us producing so many chances in the initial half-hour maybe the entire season, and the initial occasion they arrived in our penalty area they scored.

“It did not happen at City, but in all other game we have been the dominant team and were capable to generate opportunities. Recently it is nearly constantly that we miss our chances and the attempts we allow go in.”