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Liverpool's head coach declared he needed to “look at myself” after the Reds suffered a 6th defeat in 7 English top-flight matches at home against Nottingham Forest and insisted he would find a solution out of the champions’ slump.

Forest, fighting against the drop prior to the match, delivered the biggest victory at Anfield in their history as the Merseyside club fell to an eighth loss in 11 fixtures in all competitions. The most expensive domestic acquisition, the Swedish striker, was once more anonymous and Liverpool argued Murillo’s opener should have been disallowed for similar reasons to Virgil van Dijk’s disallowed effort versus Manchester City before the national team pause. But the manager conceded the responsibility stopped with him and made no excuses.

“No one wishes to hear me now speaking about officiating calls if you are defeated 3-0 in your own stadium to Nottingham Forest,” stated the Liverpool head coach. “I should examine myself first and my squad, but it demonstrates you how a goal can change the momentum of a game. Earlier I was just waiting for us to score a strike. Afterwards we hardly created anything.

“Of course there is a way out, especially with the talented players we have. No matter if you triumph or lose when you look back you are always thinking: ‘In which areas can we improve, where can we make changes?’ but that is something else from doubting yourself.

“I want to emphasise I am accountable for the current defeats. You are answerable when you are victorious but also liable when you are defeated. I can not come up with sufficient excuses for us to have the outcomes we have. That is far from acceptable and I am to blame for that.”

Liverpool’s display unravelled as the coach made several offensive changes when chasing the match. “It was the same away at Forest last season,” he said. “I substituted the French defender off and put on [Diogo] Jota and he scored straight away to make it 1-1. Then it was courageous, now it’s probably unwise.”

The Anfield side previously were defeated in two successive home Premier League games against Forest in the sixties. The last time they lost back-to-back league games by a three-goal scoreline was in the mid-60s.

The manager said: “It was very bad. Competing at home, conceding 3-0 no matter which team you encounter is a very, very bad result. Surprising if you consider the first half-hour of the match. I haven’t seen us producing so many chances in the opening half-hour perhaps the whole season, and the initial occasion they entered in our box they scored.

“It wasn’t at City, but in every other game we have been the dominant side and were capable to create opportunities. Recently it is almost constantly that we miss our opportunities and the ones we allow go in.”