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Liverpool's head coach declared he needed to “examine my own performance” after the Reds endured a 6th defeat in 7 English top-flight games at home against Nottingham Forest and insisted he would find a way out of the title holders' slump.

Nottingham Forest, fighting against the drop before kick off, produced the largest win at Anfield in their history as the Merseyside club slipped to an 8th loss in eleven matches in every tournament. The British record signing, the Swedish striker, was again anonymous and the home side contended the defender's first goal should have been disallowed for comparable grounds to Virgil van Dijk’s chalked-off goal against City before the national team pause. But the manager conceded the buck stopped with him and made no excuses.

“Nobody wants to hear me now speaking about officiating calls if you lose 3-0 at home to Forest,” said the Reds' boss. “I should examine my own role first and my squad, 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. Later we barely generated anything.

“Of course there is a way out, particularly with the talented footballers we have. No matter if you triumph or are beaten when you look back you are always thinking: ‘Where can we do better, where can we make changes?’ but that is something else from questioning 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 sufficient excuses for us to have the results we have. That is not acceptable and I am responsible for that.”

Liverpool’s display unravelled as the coach made multiple offensive changes when chasing the game. “It was the same on the road at Nottingham Forest the previous campaign,” he said. “I substituted Ibou [Ibrahima Konaté] off and put on the Portuguese forward and he found the net straight away to equalize at 1-1. Then it was brave, now it’s probably unwise.”

Liverpool previously were defeated in two successive at Anfield Premier League games by Nottingham Forest in the sixties. The most recent occasion they lost back-to-back league games by a three-goal margin was in 1965.

The manager commented: “It was very bad. Competing at home, losing 3-0 regardless of which opponent you encounter is a terrible outcome. Surprising if you look at the opening 30 minutes of the match. I haven’t seen us creating so many chances in the initial half-hour maybe the whole campaign, and the first time they arrived in our penalty area they scored.

“It did not happen at City, but in all other fixture we have been the controlling side and were able to generate opportunities. Recently it is almost consistently that we miss our chances and the attempts we concede go in.”