Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk reflected on a “very bad” atmosphere after his side’s 3-0 loss at home to Nottingham Forest.
Following a bright start at Anfield by Arne Slot’s side, Forest scored a controversial set-piece goal against the run of play, where Dan Ndoye was adjudged not to be interfering with Alisson’s line of sight as Murillo struck the opener. The visitors had a second goal disallowed for handball minutes later.
Things went from bad to worse 39 seconds after the restart when Nicolo Savona doubled Forest’s lead and Morgan Gibbs-White’s thumping late finish left Liverpool to slump to their second consecutive defeat by a three-goal margin in as many weeks and left them in the bottom half of the table.
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Highlights from the Premier League clash between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest.
“It’s a very difficult situation at the moment,” said Van Dijk. “We concede too many easy goals. In the first half an hour we were really good, we created really good opportunities. Then they scored from a set-piece, again. You can ask yourself if he was in front of Alisson, but it counted.
“There was nervousness after we conceded. You sensed that we were trying to rush things, to get the equaliser as soon as possible. Overall we were just not good. In terms of the battles, challenges, second balls, we were just too rushed.
“We’re just in a very, very difficult moment, and we have to get out of this. I’d rather do it by talking in the dressing room than speaking to you guys.
“We have to take responsibility. Football is a team game. We have to digest this, take it on the chin and work harder. I’ve said that quite a lot this season, it’s not been working out, but we need to keep going.
“The atmosphere, in my eyes, is very bad. We need to look in the mirror.”
Morgan Gibbs-White scores Nottingham Forest’s third and final goal at Anfield
Michael Dawson echoed the concerns of the Liverpool captain on Soccer Saturday, saying: “It looks like they need a miracle to be anywhere near Arsenal at the end of the season. They lost four Premier League games in the entirety of last season.
“Van Dijk has a challenge on his hands to try and get some of his players their confidence and belief back. As soon as they went behind, the self-belief was sucked out of them. Van Dijk looked broken.”
Slot accepts responsibility for baron run
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Liverpool boss Arne Slot reflects on another Premier League defeat.
Slot said the failings fall at his door and that he accepts responsibility for recent results. The Dutchman is unable to pin this particular loss, however, on one particular aspect, albeit set-piece woe is a constant theme.
This was Forest’s biggest win at Anfield in their club’s history and their first clean sheet in 20 attempts. Slot emphasised that he was not interested in excuses, only finding solutions.
“Losing 3-0 at home is a very, very bad result,” he said. “Unexpected if you look at the first half hour. I hadn’t seen us creating that much all season, we were able to create a lot. It’s a very difficult cocktail to drink if you create a lot of chances and then every time you concede one, the opposition score.
“When we win or lose, it’s my responsibility. We’ve been the dominant team, lately it’s always constantly that we miss our chances and the ones we concede go in.
“Of course, there is a way out with the quality players we have. I’m responsible for the current losses. I can never come up with enough excuses for us to have the results we have. That is far from good enough and I’m responsible for that.”
On the contentious opening goal, Slot said: “After the game people tell me he’s in an offside position. I have to see it back. No one wants to hear me talk about refereeing decisions when we’ve lost 3-0. But it does show you how a goal can change momentum.”