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

Nottingham Forest, fighting against the drop prior to the match, delivered the largest victory at Liverpool's stadium in their club records as the Merseyside club fell to an eighth loss in 11 matches in every tournament. The most expensive domestic acquisition, the Swedish striker, was once more anonymous and Liverpool argued Murillo’s opener should have been ruled out for comparable grounds to Virgil van Dijk’s disallowed effort versus City before the national team pause. But Slot conceded the buck stopped with him and made no excuses.

“Nobody wishes to hear me now talking about officiating calls if you lose 3-0 in your own stadium to Nottingham Forest,” said the Reds' boss. “I should look at myself first and my team, but it does show you how a score can change the momentum of a game. Earlier I was just waiting 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. Regardless if you win or lose when you reflect you are always considering: ‘Where can we improve, in what aspects can we make changes?’ but that is different from questioning yourself.

“I wish to emphasise I am responsible for the present defeats. You are answerable when you are winning but also responsible when you are defeated. I can not come up with enough excuses for us to have the results we have. That is far from good enough and I am responsible for that.”

Liverpool’s performance unravelled as the coach introduced multiple attacking substitutions when chasing the match. “It was the same on the road at Nottingham Forest last season,” he said. “I substituted Ibou [Ibrahima Konaté] off and put on the Portuguese forward and he found the net immediately to equalize at 1-1. At that time it was courageous, currently it’s probably stupid.”

The Anfield side previously were defeated in back-to-back at Anfield Premier League fixtures against Forest in the sixties. The last time they lost back-to-back top-flight games by a three-goal scoreline was in 1965.

The manager said: “It was very bad. Competing at home, losing 3-0 regardless of which team you encounter is a terrible outcome. 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 season, and the first time they arrived in our penalty area they scored.

“It wasn’t at City, but in all other game we have been the controlling team and were able to create chances. Recently it is almost constantly that we miss our opportunities and the ones we concede find the net.”