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Arne Slot declared he had to “examine my own performance” following Liverpool suffered a sixth defeat in 7 Premier League matches on their own turf to Forest and insisted he would find a way out of the champions’ slump.

Forest, in the relegation zone prior to the match, produced the biggest win at Liverpool's stadium in their history as Liverpool fell to an 8th defeat in 11 matches in every tournament. The British record signing, the Swedish striker, was again unnoticeable and Liverpool argued the defender's opener should have been disallowed for similar reasons to Virgil van Dijk’s chalked-off goal against Manchester City before the national team pause. But Slot conceded the buck rested with him and offered no alibis.

“No one wishes to listen to me now talking about refereeing decisions if you lose 3-0 in your own stadium to Nottingham Forest,” said the Reds' boss. “I should look at my own role first and my squad, but it does show you how a score can alter the flow of a game. Before I was just waiting for us to score a goal. Afterwards we barely created any chances.

“Naturally there is a way out, especially with the talented footballers we have. No matter if you win or are beaten when you look back you are always considering: ‘In which areas can we improve, in what aspects can we make changes?’ but that is something else from questioning your abilities.

“I wish to stress I am responsible for the current losses. You are responsible when you are victorious but also liable when you are defeated. I can never come up with sufficient reasons for us to have the results we have. That is far from good enough and I am to blame for that.”

The team's performance unravelled as the coach made several attacking substitutions when chasing the game. “It was the same on the road at Nottingham Forest the previous campaign,” he said. “I took Ibou [Ibrahima Konaté] off and put on the Portuguese forward and he found the net straight away to equalize at 1-1. Then it was brave, now it’s probably unwise.”

The Anfield side previously were defeated in back-to-back home league fixtures by Nottingham Forest in the sixties. The last time they suffered consecutive league matches by a three-goal scoreline was in the mid-60s.

The manager commented: “It was extremely poor. Competing on home soil, conceding 3-0 no matter which opponent you face is a terrible result. Unexpected if you consider the opening 30 minutes of the match. I haven’t seen us producing so much in the initial 30 minutes maybe the whole campaign, and the initial occasion they entered in our penalty area they scored.

“It wasn’t at City, but in every other fixture we have been the controlling side and were able to create opportunities. Recently it is almost consistently that we miss our opportunities and the attempts we allow go in.”