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Arne Slot declared he needed to “look at myself” after the Reds suffered a sixth defeat in 7 Premier League games on their own turf against Nottingham Forest and insisted he would discover a solution from the title holders' slump.

Forest, fighting against the drop before kick off, delivered the biggest win at Liverpool's stadium in their club records as the Merseyside club slipped to an eighth defeat in 11 matches in every tournament. The most expensive domestic acquisition, the Swedish striker, was again anonymous and the home side contended the defender's opener should have been disallowed for comparable grounds to Virgil van Dijk’s disallowed effort versus City prior to the national team pause. But Slot conceded the buck stopped with him and made no excuses.

“Nobody wishes to listen to me now speaking about refereeing decisions if you lose 3-0 in your own stadium to Forest,” said the Liverpool head coach. “I should look at myself first and my squad, but it demonstrates you how a score can alter the momentum of a game. Earlier I was just waiting for us to score a strike. Later we hardly created anything.

“Naturally there is a way out, especially with the talented players we have. Regardless if you triumph or are beaten when you reflect you are always thinking: ‘Where can we improve, in what aspects can we make changes?’ but that is different from questioning yourself.

“I wish to stress I am accountable for the current losses. You are responsible when you are victorious but also liable when you are losing. I can not provide enough excuses for us to have the outcomes we have. That is not good enough and I am responsible for that.”

The team's performance unravelled as the coach made several attacking substitutions when pursuing the match. “It was the identical away at Nottingham Forest the previous campaign,” he said. “I took Ibou [Ibrahima Konaté] out and brought on the Portuguese forward and he scored straight away to equalize at 1-1. At that time it was courageous, currently it’s likely unwise.”

The Anfield side last lost back-to-back home league fixtures against Nottingham Forest in 1963. The last time they suffered back-to-back top-flight matches by a 3-0 margin was in the mid-60s.

Slot commented: “It was extremely poor. Playing on home soil, losing 3-0 regardless of which opponent you encounter is a terrible result. Surprising if you consider the opening 30 minutes of the game. I did not witness us creating so much in the opening half-hour perhaps the whole season, and the first time they arrived in our penalty area they scored.

“It wasn’t against Manchester City, but in all other fixture we have been the dominant side and were able to generate opportunities. Recently it is almost constantly that we miss our opportunities and the attempts we allow go in.”