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Arne Slot stated he had to “examine my own performance” after the Reds endured a 6th loss in 7 English top-flight matches on their own turf to Forest and affirmed he would discover a way out of the champions’ poor run.

Nottingham Forest, fighting against the drop prior to the match, produced the biggest win at Anfield in their history as the Merseyside club slipped to an eighth loss in eleven matches in all competitions. The British record signing, the Swedish striker, was once more unnoticeable and the home side contended Murillo’s opener should have been disallowed for similar reasons to Virgil van Dijk’s chalked-off goal versus City before the national team pause. But the manager conceded the responsibility rested with him and offered no alibis.

“No one wants to listen to me now speaking about refereeing decisions if you are defeated 3-0 at home to Nottingham Forest,” said the Reds' boss. “I ought to look at my own role first and my squad, but it demonstrates you how a goal can change the momentum of a game. Earlier I was just waiting for us to score a strike. Later we hardly generated anything.

“Of course there is a way out, particularly with the quality footballers we have. No matter if you triumph or are beaten when you reflect you are always thinking: ‘Where can we improve, where can we make changes?’ but that is different from doubting yourself.

“I want to stress I am accountable for the current losses. You are responsible when you are winning but also liable when you are defeated. I can never come up with sufficient excuses for us to have the results we have. That is far from good enough and I am to blame for that.”

Liverpool’s performance unravelled as Slot introduced multiple offensive changes when pursuing the match. “It was the identical on the road at Forest last season,” he said. “I took Ibou [Ibrahima Konaté] out and put on [Diogo] Jota and he scored immediately to equalize at 1-1. At that time it was brave, now it’s likely unwise.”

Liverpool previously were defeated in two successive home league fixtures against Nottingham Forest in the sixties. The last time they lost back-to-back league matches by a 3-0 scoreline was in 1965.

The manager commented: “It was extremely poor. Playing at home, losing 3-0 no matter which team you encounter is a very, very bad outcome. Unexpected if you look at the opening 30 minutes of the match. I haven’t seen us producing so much in the opening 30 minutes perhaps the entire campaign, and the initial occasion they arrived in our box they scored.

“It did not happen at City, but in all other game we have been the dominant side and were able to generate opportunities. Recently it is almost consistently that we fail to convert our chances and the attempts we allow find the net.”