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Arne Slot declared he needed to “look at myself” following Liverpool endured a sixth loss in 7 English top-flight matches on their own turf against Nottingham Forest and affirmed he would discover a solution out of the champions’ poor run.

Nottingham Forest, fighting against the drop before kick off, produced the biggest win at Liverpool's stadium in their history as the Merseyside club fell to an eighth defeat in 11 matches in every tournament. The British record signing, Alexander Isak, was once more unnoticeable and Liverpool argued the defender's first goal should have been disallowed for similar reasons to the captain's disallowed effort versus City before the international break. But the manager conceded the buck rested with him and offered no alibis.

“Nobody wishes to listen to me now speaking about officiating calls if you lose 3-0 at home to Nottingham Forest,” said the Liverpool head coach. “I should look at myself first and my squad, but it does show you how a goal can change the flow of a match. Earlier I was just waiting for us to score a goal. Later we barely generated anything.

“Of course there is a path forward, particularly with the talented footballers we have. Regardless if you triumph or are beaten when you reflect you are always thinking: ‘Where can we do better, in what aspects can we adjust?’ but that is something else from doubting your abilities.

“I want to stress I am responsible for the current defeats. 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 good enough and I am to blame for that.”

Liverpool’s performance fell apart as the coach introduced several attacking substitutions when pursuing the match. “It was the same on the road at Forest the previous campaign,” he said. “I took Ibou [Ibrahima Konaté] off and put on the Portuguese forward and he scored immediately to make it 1-1. At that time it was courageous, currently it’s likely stupid.”

The Anfield side last lost back-to-back at Anfield league games against Nottingham Forest in the sixties. The last time they lost consecutive league games by a 3-0 scoreline was in the mid-60s.

Slot commented: “It was extremely poor. Competing on home soil, conceding 3-0 no matter which opponent you face is a very, very bad result. Unexpected if you look at the first half-hour of the match. I did not witness us creating so much in the opening half-hour perhaps the entire campaign, and the first time they entered in our penalty area they found the back of the net.

“It did not happen at City, but in all other game we have been the dominant side and were capable to generate chances. Recently it is almost constantly that we miss our chances and the ones we allow find the net.”