Arne Slot backed himself to drag Liverpool out of their ruinous run of form, insisting that the repetitive sequence of events behind their damning collapse “will not continue throughout the whole season.”
The Dutch boss didn’t appear to be quite so defiant while he was in the process of watching Nottingham Forest stroll to a deserved 3–0 victory at Anfield on Saturday afternoon. After finding themselves on the wrong side of the same scoreline against Manchester City earlier this month, it is the first time Liverpool have suffered consecutive league defeats by three goals or more since April 1965.
In the immediate aftermath of Forest’s third goal, swiped into the bottom corner by Morgan Gibbs-White with 12 minutes remaining, Slot stood on the touchline open mouthed. Many in the crowd would have missed this gormless admission of defeat as a significant proportion took that goal as their cue to head for the exit.
Slot had gathered himself enough to take responsibility for Liverpool’s sixth reverse in seven league games, but insisted that all was not lost just yet.
“Yes of course there’s a way out, especially with the quality players we have,” he told his postmatch press conference. “Lately, it’s almost constantly that we miss our chances and the ones we concede go in,” he sighed. “That will not continue throughout the whole season.”
“The first time they arrived in our box they scored,” Slot added. “It’s a difficult cocktail to drink if you miss your own chances and almost every time you concede a chance, the ball goes in.”
There have been plenty of setbacks for Liverpool to swallow already this season.
