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Arne Slot stated he needed to “examine my own performance” after Liverpool suffered a 6th loss in 7 English top-flight matches on their own turf against Nottingham Forest and insisted he would discover a solution from the champions’ poor run.

Forest, in the relegation zone before kick off, produced the biggest win at Liverpool's stadium in their club records as Liverpool slipped to an eighth defeat in eleven fixtures in every tournament. The most expensive domestic acquisition, the Swedish striker, was again anonymous and the home side argued Murillo’s opener should have been disallowed for comparable grounds to the captain's disallowed effort against City prior to the international break. But the manager admitted the buck rested with him and offered no alibis.

“No one wishes to hear me now speaking about refereeing decisions if you lose 3-0 at home to Forest,” said the Reds' boss. “I ought to look at my own role first and my team, but it demonstrates you how a goal can change the flow of a match. Before I was just waiting for us to net a strike. Afterwards we barely created anything.

“Naturally there is a way out, particularly with the talented players we have. No matter if you win or lose when you look back you are always thinking: ‘In which areas can we improve, in what aspects can we adjust?’ but that is something else from doubting your abilities.

“I want to stress I am responsible for the present defeats. You are responsible when you are winning 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 not acceptable and I am to blame for that.”

Liverpool’s performance fell apart as Slot introduced multiple attacking substitutions when chasing the game. “It was the same away at Forest the previous campaign,” he remarked. “I substituted Ibou [Ibrahima Konaté] off and brought on [Diogo] Jota and he found the net immediately to make it 1-1. At that time it was brave, now it’s likely stupid.”

Liverpool last lost two successive at Anfield league games by Nottingham Forest in the sixties. The last time they lost back-to-back league matches by a 3-0 scoreline was in the mid-60s.

Slot commented: “It was very bad. Playing on home soil, conceding 3-0 regardless of which opponent you face is a very, very bad outcome. Surprising if you look at the opening 30 minutes of the match. I haven’t seen us producing so much in the initial 30 minutes perhaps the entire campaign, and the first time they entered in our box they scored.

“It did not happen against Manchester City, but in every other fixture we have been the dominant team and were able to create chances. Lately it is almost consistently that we fail to convert our opportunities and the ones we allow find the net.”