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Arne Slot declared he needed to “look at myself” after the Reds suffered a sixth loss in 7 English top-flight matches on their own turf to Forest and insisted he would discover a way from the title holders' poor run.

Forest, fighting against the drop before kick off, delivered the largest victory at Liverpool's stadium in their history as the Merseyside club slipped to an eighth defeat in 11 fixtures in every tournament. The most expensive domestic acquisition, Alexander Isak, was again anonymous and the home side argued Murillo’s opener ought to have been disallowed for comparable grounds to Virgil van Dijk’s disallowed effort against Manchester City prior to the international break. But Slot conceded the buck rested with him and made no excuses.

“No one wants to hear me now talking about refereeing decisions if you are defeated 3-0 in your own stadium to Nottingham Forest,” said the Liverpool head coach. “I ought to examine my own role initially and my team, but it does show you how a score can alter the flow of a match. Before I was just waiting for us to net a strike. Afterwards we barely created anything.

“Of course there is a path forward, particularly with the talented players we have. Regardless if you triumph or are beaten when you reflect you are always thinking: ‘In which areas can we do better, where can we adjust?’ but that is something else from doubting your abilities.

“I want to stress I am accountable for the present defeats. You are responsible when you are winning but also liable when you are losing. I can not provide sufficient excuses for us to have the results we have. That is far from acceptable and I am to blame for that.”

The team's performance fell apart as the coach introduced several attacking substitutions when chasing the game. “It was the identical on the road at Nottingham Forest the previous campaign,” he remarked. “I substituted the French defender out and brought on the Portuguese forward and he found the net immediately to make it 1-1. At that time it was brave, now it’s likely stupid.”

Liverpool previously were defeated in two successive at Anfield league games against Forest in the sixties. The most recent occasion they lost back-to-back top-flight matches by a three-goal scoreline was in the mid-60s.

The manager said: “It was very bad. Playing at home, conceding 3-0 no matter which opponent you face is a terrible result. Unexpected if you consider the opening 30 minutes of the game. I did not witness us producing so many chances in the initial 30 minutes maybe the entire season, and the initial occasion they arrived in our box they found the back of the net.

“It did not happen against Manchester City, but in every other fixture we have been the dominant team and were capable to generate opportunities. Lately it is almost consistently that we fail to convert our opportunities and the attempts we allow go in.”