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Arne Slot stated he needed to “examine my own performance” after Liverpool endured a sixth defeat in seven Premier League matches at home against Nottingham Forest and insisted he would discover a way from the champions’ slump.

Nottingham Forest, fighting against the drop prior to the match, delivered the biggest victory at Liverpool's stadium in their club records as the Merseyside club slipped to an eighth defeat in 11 matches in every tournament. The British record signing, Alexander Isak, was again anonymous and the home side contended Murillo’s opener should have been disallowed for comparable grounds to Virgil van Dijk’s chalked-off goal against Manchester City before the national team pause. But the manager conceded the buck rested with him and made no excuses.

“No one wants to listen to me now speaking about refereeing decisions if you are defeated 3-0 in your own stadium to Forest,” said the Reds' boss. “I ought to look at myself first and my team, but it does show you how a goal can alter the momentum of a game. Before I was just hoping for us to score a strike. Afterwards we barely generated any chances.

“Of course there is a path forward, especially with the talented footballers we have. No matter if you triumph or are beaten when you look back you are always considering: ‘Where can we improve, in what aspects can we make changes?’ 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 victorious 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.”

The team's display unravelled as the coach made several offensive changes when chasing the match. “It was the same on the road at Nottingham Forest the previous campaign,” he said. “I took Ibou [Ibrahima Konaté] off and brought on the Portuguese forward and he found the net immediately to equalize at 1-1. Then it was courageous, now it’s likely stupid.”

The Anfield side last lost back-to-back home league fixtures by Nottingham Forest in 1963. The most recent occasion they lost back-to-back league games by a three-goal margin was in the mid-60s.

Slot commented: “It was very bad. Playing on home soil, losing 3-0 regardless of which opponent you face is a very, very bad outcome. Surprising if you look at the first half-hour of the game. I did not witness us creating so much in the initial 30 minutes maybe the entire campaign, and the initial occasion they entered in our box they scored.

“It did not happen against Manchester City, but in every other fixture we have been the controlling side and were able to generate opportunities. Lately it is almost constantly that we miss our opportunities and the ones we allow go in.”