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Arne Slot declared he needed to “examine my own performance” after Liverpool suffered a sixth loss in 7 English top-flight games on their own turf against Forest and affirmed he would find a solution out of the title holders' slump.

Forest, in the relegation zone before kick off, delivered the biggest victory at Liverpool's stadium in their club records as the Merseyside club slipped to an eighth loss in 11 matches in all competitions. The British record signing, the Swedish striker, was once more anonymous and Liverpool contended the defender's opener should have been ruled out for comparable grounds to Virgil van Dijk’s disallowed effort against Manchester City before the national team pause. But the manager conceded the responsibility rested with him and made no excuses.

“Nobody wishes to hear me now talking about refereeing decisions if you are defeated 3-0 in your own stadium to Forest,” stated the Liverpool head coach. “I ought to examine my own role first and my squad, but it does show you how a goal can alter the flow of a game. Earlier I was just hoping for us to score a goal. Later we barely generated anything.

“Of course there is a path forward, particularly with the talented players we have. No matter if you triumph or lose when you reflect you are always considering: ‘Where can we do better, where can we make changes?’ but that is different from questioning yourself.

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

Liverpool’s display fell apart as Slot introduced several attacking substitutions when chasing the match. “It was the same away at Nottingham Forest the previous campaign,” he remarked. “I took the French defender off and put on [Diogo] Jota and he found the net straight away to equalize at 1-1. Then it was courageous, now it’s probably unwise.”

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

The manager said: “It was very bad. Playing at home, losing 3-0 no matter which opponent you face is a very, very bad outcome. Surprising if you consider the opening 30 minutes of the game. I haven’t seen us producing so much in the opening half-hour maybe the whole season, and the first time they entered in our box they scored.

“It did not happen at City, but in all other fixture we have been the dominant team and were able to create chances. Lately it is almost consistently that we fail to convert our chances and the attempts we concede find the net.”