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Liverpool's head coach declared he had to “look at myself” after the Reds endured a sixth defeat in 7 English top-flight matches on their own turf against Nottingham Forest and affirmed he would discover a way out of the champions’ poor run.

Nottingham Forest, fighting against the drop before kick off, delivered the largest victory at Liverpool's stadium in their club records as the Merseyside club fell to an eighth defeat in 11 fixtures in every tournament. The most expensive domestic acquisition, the Swedish striker, was again unnoticeable and the home side argued the defender's opener should have been disallowed for similar reasons to Virgil van Dijk’s disallowed effort against Manchester City prior to the international break. But Slot conceded the buck rested with him and offered no alibis.

“No one wishes to hear me now talking about officiating calls if you are defeated 3-0 at home to Forest,” stated the Liverpool head coach. “I ought to look at my own role initially and my team, but it does show you how a goal can alter the flow of a match. Earlier I was just waiting for us to score a strike. Later we hardly generated anything.

“Naturally there is a way out, particularly with the talented footballers we have. No matter if you triumph or are beaten when you look back you are always considering: ‘In which areas can we improve, where can we adjust?’ but that is different from doubting your abilities.

“I want to stress I am responsible for the current defeats. You are answerable when you are winning but also liable when you are losing. I can not provide sufficient reasons for us to have the outcomes we have. That is not acceptable and I am responsible for that.”

Liverpool’s performance fell apart as the coach introduced multiple offensive substitutions when chasing the game. “It was the same away at Nottingham Forest the previous campaign,” he said. “I took Ibou [Ibrahima Konaté] out and put on the Portuguese forward and he found the net immediately to make it 1-1. Then it was brave, now it’s probably stupid.”

Liverpool last lost back-to-back home league fixtures against Forest in 1963. The most recent occasion they lost back-to-back top-flight games by a three-goal scoreline was in the mid-60s.

The manager said: “It was very bad. Playing on home soil, conceding 3-0 regardless of which opponent you encounter is a very, very bad result. Surprising if you consider the opening 30 minutes of the match. I did not witness us producing so many chances in the initial 30 minutes perhaps the whole season, and the first time they arrived in our penalty area they found the back of the net.

“It did not happen against Manchester City, but in all other game we have been the dominant team and were able to create chances. Recently it is nearly consistently that we miss our opportunities and the ones we allow go in.”