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Liverpool's head coach declared he needed to “examine my own performance” after the Reds endured a sixth defeat in 7 Premier League games on their own turf to Forest and insisted he would find a way out of the champions’ slump.

Nottingham Forest, in the relegation zone prior to the match, produced the biggest win at Anfield in their club records as the Merseyside club fell to an eighth loss in eleven matches in all competitions. The most expensive domestic acquisition, the Swedish striker, was once more anonymous and the home side contended the defender's first goal ought to have been ruled out for similar reasons to Virgil van Dijk’s disallowed effort against City before the international break. But the manager conceded the responsibility stopped with him and offered no alibis.

“No one wants to listen to me now speaking about refereeing decisions if you are defeated 3-0 at home to Forest,” said the Reds' boss. “I ought to look at myself first and my team, but it does show you how a goal can change the momentum of a match. Before I was just waiting for us to net a goal. Later we hardly created any chances.

“Of course there is a path forward, particularly with the talented players we have. Regardless if you triumph or lose when you look back you are always thinking: ‘In which areas can we do better, in what aspects can we make changes?’ but that is something else from questioning yourself.

“I want to emphasise I am responsible for the present defeats. You are answerable when you are victorious but also responsible when you are losing. I can never provide enough excuses for us to have the results we have. That is far from acceptable and I am to blame for that.”

Liverpool’s performance unravelled as the coach made multiple offensive substitutions when chasing the game. “It was the identical away at Nottingham Forest the previous campaign,” he remarked. “I substituted the French defender out and put on the Portuguese forward and he found the net immediately to equalize at 1-1. At that time it was brave, now it’s likely stupid.”

The Anfield side previously were defeated in two successive at Anfield Premier League games by Forest in 1963. The most recent occasion they suffered consecutive top-flight matches by a three-goal margin was in the mid-60s.

The manager commented: “It was very bad. Playing at home, losing 3-0 no matter which team you face is a terrible outcome. Surprising if you look at the first half-hour of the game. I did not witness us producing so many chances in the initial half-hour perhaps the entire season, and the initial occasion they entered in our penalty area they found the back of the net.

“It did not happen against Manchester City, but in every other fixture we have been the controlling team and were able to generate opportunities. Recently it is nearly consistently that we fail to convert our opportunities and the ones we concede go in.”