Furious Arne Slot blasts four things not good enough in Liverpool loss to Nottingham Forest
A furious Arne Slot has outlined four reasons for Liverpool's disappointing 1-0 defeat to Nottingham Forest at Anfield on Saturday.
The Dutchman tasted defeat for the first time since taking over from Jurgen Klopp in the Reds hot seat, thanks to a goal from ex-Chelsea ace Callum Hudson-Odoi. Forest's strike came in the 72nd minute, leaving Liverpool just shy of 20 minutes to issue a response that didn't end up coming.
Slot's men saw their large share of possession with 70 percent, and they also had more shots with 14 - but they ultimately struggled to create clear-cut goal-scoring opportunities. They also lost possession of the ball far too much near their own penalty area.
Liverpool's decision-making wasn't up to scratch either, nor was their execution of Slot's plans. "The result frustrates the most and we cannot be happy about how the game went," Slot admitted.
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"It was a stop-start game and we hardly created any chances. We only have to look at ourselves, we have to be better. Far too many times we lost the ball around the area, it was not good enough.
"We have to be better with the ball. Our decisions and execution wasn't good enough. In general, we defended quite well but the two fast players came on and made it difficult. We took a lot of risk and in the end, it was a very good goal."
The Reds now move onto Tuesday night, their first Champions League game of the 2024/25 season, a trip to the San Siro to take on AC Milan under Uefa's new league format. In a boost to Slot's men, Milan hasn't started the Serie A campaign well.
They sit 15th after three games having failed to record a win. Liverpool will then welcome Bournemouth to Anfield next weekend, where they'll look to get back to winning ways on home turf before taking on West Ham a few days later in Merseyside in the EFL Cup.
“It is what it is and that is why, if we are fortunate to work at big clubs like I do, that we also have a lot of good players,” Slot said on Liverpool's busy schedule. “And that’s also one of the reasons why we have so many players. If we only played 15 games then we wouldn’t need as many players as we have now.
“For the players it might be a lot. If it is too much then it is a question for them to ask because I don’t feel what they feel but I do see it is a lot and it is up to us to prove we can handle that: the ones who play almost every game and the ones to come in and show they can continue to get results like we have so far.”