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Arne Slot and Danny Murphy disagree on reason for Liverpool loss vs Nottingham Forest

Liverpool head coach Arne Slot.
-Credit: (Image: Photo by John Powell/Liverpool FC via Getty Images)


Arne Slot has dismissed Danny Murphy's suggestion that the international break was behind Liverpool's shock loss against Nottingham Forest. The Reds' manager experienced his first taste of defeat since taking charge, with Callum Hudson-Odoi's goal ensuring a disappointing day at Anfield for the home side and putting an end to Slot's unblemished record.

Murphy, the former Liverpool midfielder, weighed in on the loss during Match of the Day, hinting that the players' international commitments might have dulled their edge. "Maybe a little [bit of a reality check]," he said. "There was a lack of ruthlessness and sharpness in the final third. Maybe a little bit of players traveling all over with the international duty."

He added: "If he [Slot] wasn't sure before he'll know now how competitive this Premier League is. But no panic, still a lot of positives for Liverpool, it's been a good start."

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However, Slot isn't buying into any excuses after Nottingham Forest secured the points. Acknowledging the potential fatigue from the international break, he firmly believes it didn't influence the outcome, reports the Mirror.

Post-match, Slot reflected: "It's always difficult but I don't think [the break] had anything to do with it. Players came back strong and I saw today a team that wanted to fight until the end. That wasn't to do with energy. We simply had the ball a lot we had to create from ball possession."

The Reds' boss dissected the match by saying: "If you look at the goals we scored until now, we scored quite a few from transition moments from winning the ball back but the other team (Forest) played over our press a lot with a lot of long balls. We mostly got the ball in our last line."

Reflecting on the team's performance, he commented: "It wasn't good enough today because too many individual performances in ball possession were not up to the standards that I'm used to from these players.

Liverpool head coach Arne Slot looks on during the Premier League match against Nottingham Forest at Anfield on September 14 2024
Liverpool head coach Arne Slot looks on during the Premier League match against Nottingham Forest at Anfield on September 14 2024 -Credit:Alex Livesey - Danehouse/Getty Images

Expanding on the tactical issues, he mentioned: "The only thing we had influence on was ball possession because they played a lot of long balls, so if you then take the ball back you need to go past 11 players. We had a lot of ball possession but only managed to create three or four quite good chances. That's by far not enough.

"If you have so much possession and play so much in their half we need to be much better, we lost the ball so many times in simple situations. That's the main story from the game ball possession was not good enough."

There's anticipation around Anfield as Slot hopes for Liverpool to regain form in the midst of a packed schedule. The Merseyside outfit begins its Champions League journey against AC Milan this Tuesday before hosting Bournemouth the following weekend.

Liverpool.com says: As long as the defeat was a one-off, Liverpool can write it off as being a learning curve. The hope is that the game plan isn't replicated successfully by someone else in the near future or that could be something that hang around the Reds' neck.