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Liverpool's head coach declared he had to “look at myself” following the Reds suffered a sixth defeat in seven English top-flight matches at home against Nottingham Forest and insisted he would find a way from the champions’ slump.

Nottingham Forest, in the relegation zone prior to the match, produced the biggest victory at Anfield in their history as the Merseyside club fell to an eighth defeat in 11 fixtures in all competitions. The most expensive domestic acquisition, the Swedish striker, was again anonymous and Liverpool contended Murillo’s first goal should have been disallowed for similar reasons to Virgil van Dijk’s chalked-off goal against City prior to the international break. But the manager conceded the responsibility stopped with him and offered no alibis.

“No one wants to listen to me now talking about officiating calls if you are defeated 3-0 in your own stadium to Nottingham Forest,” said the Liverpool head coach. “I should look at my own role first and my team, but it demonstrates you how a score can change the flow of a match. Earlier I was just hoping for us to score a strike. Afterwards we barely created anything.

“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: ‘Where can we improve, where can we make changes?’ but that is something else from doubting your abilities.

“I wish to emphasise I am responsible for the current defeats. You are responsible when you are winning but also liable when you are losing. I can never come up with enough excuses for us to have the outcomes we have. That is not good enough and I am to blame for that.”

The team's display unravelled as the coach introduced several offensive substitutions when pursuing the match. “It was the same on the road at Forest last season,” he said. “I substituted Ibou [Ibrahima Konaté] out and brought on [Diogo] Jota and he found the net straight away to make it 1-1. Then it was brave, now it’s likely unwise.”

Liverpool previously were defeated in two successive home league games by Forest in 1963. The most recent occasion they lost back-to-back top-flight games by a 3-0 scoreline was in 1965.

Slot commented: “It was extremely poor. Playing at home, losing 3-0 no matter which opponent you face is a terrible result. Unexpected if you look at the first half-hour of the match. I haven’t seen us producing so much in the opening 30 minutes maybe the whole campaign, and the first time they entered in our box they found the back of the net.

“It did not happen at City, but in every other fixture we have been the controlling side and were capable to create chances. Lately it is nearly consistently that we fail to convert our chances and the attempts we concede find the net.”