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Arne Slot declared he needed to “examine my own performance” after the Reds suffered a sixth defeat in seven English top-flight games on their own turf to Forest and insisted he would find a solution out of the champions’ slump.

Forest, fighting against the drop before kick off, produced the largest victory at Liverpool's stadium in their club records as Liverpool fell to an eighth loss in 11 fixtures in all competitions. The most expensive domestic acquisition, Alexander Isak, was again anonymous and the home side contended the defender's opener should have been ruled out for comparable grounds to the captain's disallowed effort against City before the national team pause. But Slot admitted the responsibility rested with him and offered no alibis.

“No one wants to listen to me now talking about refereeing decisions if you lose 3-0 in your own stadium to Forest,” said the Reds' boss. “I ought to examine myself initially and my team, but it demonstrates you how a goal can alter the flow of a game. Before I was just hoping for us to net a goal. Later we barely created any chances.

“Of course there is a path forward, especially with the quality footballers we have. Regardless if you triumph or lose when you reflect you are always thinking: ‘In which areas can we do better, in what aspects can we make changes?’ but that is something else from questioning your abilities.

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

The team's display fell apart as the coach made multiple attacking changes when chasing the game. “It was the identical on the road at Nottingham Forest the previous campaign,” he remarked. “I substituted the French defender out and put on [Diogo] Jota and he found the net straight away to equalize at 1-1. At that time it was courageous, now it’s probably stupid.”

The Anfield side last lost two successive home Premier League fixtures against Nottingham Forest in the sixties. The last time they lost consecutive top-flight matches by a three-goal margin was in 1965.

Slot said: “It was very bad. Competing on home soil, losing 3-0 no matter which team you face is a terrible outcome. Unexpected if you look at the first half-hour of the match. I did not witness us producing so much in the initial half-hour perhaps the entire campaign, and the initial occasion they arrived in our box they found the back of the net.

“It wasn’t at City, but in every other game we have been the dominant team and were able to generate opportunities. Lately it is almost consistently that we fail to convert our chances and the ones we concede find the net.”