Arne Slot gave a typically blunt assessment of Liverpool’s defeat to Nottingham Forest on Saturday, his first loss in charge of the Reds.
Callum Hudson-Odoi scored in the 72nd minute to earn the visitors all three points, and it was a day which saw the home side create precious little at Anfield despite having 14 shots.
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The LFC boss didn’t pull any punches with his post-match verdict, saying (via Evening Standard): “The result frustrates the most, and we cannot be happy about how the game went. 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 [Hudson-Odoi and Anthony Elanga] came on and made it difficult. We took a lot of risks and in the end it was a very good goal.”
It’s good to see that Slot wasn’t trying to deflect from what was, quite frankly, a substandard performance from Liverpool and a reality check after a previously perfect start to the season.
Despite having almost three times as many shots as Forest and 70% possession (Sofascore), the home side never really threatened in the second half, with Luis Diaz’s shot off the post in the first 45 minutes the closest we came to scoring.
Even if the visitors slowed the game down at times, they were within their rights to do so when the tactic was working, and the onus was on LFC to break them down. As the Dutchman referenced, his team were bafflingly sloppy in the final third, making the wrong decision or executing passes poorly far too often.
The window for a debrief isn’t extensive, with Liverpool travelling to Italy to face AC Milan in their Champions League opener in just three days’ time.
Slot has openly acknowledged that his side were nowhere near their best today, so hopefully we’ll see the desired response on the pitch at the San Siro on Tuesday. One thing is for certain – he won’t accept a repeat of what we witnessed this afternoon.
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