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Arne Slot declared he had to “examine my own performance” after the Reds endured a sixth loss in seven English top-flight matches on their own turf against Nottingham Forest and insisted he would find a solution out of the champions’ slump.

Nottingham Forest, fighting against the drop before kick off, produced the biggest victory at Liverpool's stadium in their history as the Merseyside club slipped to an 8th loss in eleven fixtures in all competitions. The British record signing, Alexander Isak, was once more unnoticeable and Liverpool argued the defender's opener should have been disallowed for comparable grounds to the captain's chalked-off goal against City prior to the national team pause. But Slot conceded the responsibility stopped with him and offered no alibis.

“No one wants 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 myself first and my squad, but it does show you how a goal can alter the momentum of a match. Earlier I was just waiting for us to score a strike. Later we barely generated anything.

“Of course there is a path forward, especially with the talented footballers we have. Regardless if you win or are beaten when you look back you are always thinking: ‘In which areas can we do better, in what aspects can we make changes?’ but that is different from questioning yourself.

“I want to emphasise I am responsible for the present losses. You are responsible when you are victorious but also responsible when you are defeated. I can never provide enough reasons 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 several offensive substitutions when pursuing the match. “It was the same on the road at Forest the previous campaign,” he remarked. “I substituted 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 courageous, currently it’s likely unwise.”

Liverpool previously were defeated in two successive home Premier League fixtures by Forest in 1963. The most recent occasion they lost consecutive top-flight matches by a 3-0 scoreline was in the mid-60s.

The manager said: “It was very bad. Competing on home soil, losing 3-0 regardless of which opponent you face is a very, very bad result. Unexpected if you consider the first half-hour of the game. I did not witness us creating so much in the opening half-hour maybe the entire campaign, and the initial occasion 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 controlling team and were capable to create opportunities. Recently it is nearly consistently that we miss our chances and the attempts we concede go in.”