Liverpool’s title defence is over – how much lower can they go?

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Liverpool 0-3 Nottingham Forest: The Reds now sit in the bottom half of the Premier League table after repeating the one feat from last season they would’ve wanted to avoid

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Even when Liverpool managed to repeat one of their feats from last season, they picked the wrong one. They lost to Nottingham Forest at Anfield last year, a setback that did not prevent Arne Slot’s side from winning the title. They did so again, but now Liverpool languish in the bottom half. If their dismal title defence was not already over, it is now.

“I can never come up with enough excuses for us to come up with the results we have,” said Slot. “That is far from good enough and I am responsible for that.” The same logic underlined that it was another historic achievement for Sean Dyche, who masterminded Burnley’s first win at Anfield since 1974 and, now, Forest’s biggest ever. “Of course it is to be enjoyed,” he said.

But not for Slot. It was an awful afternoon for him, capped by the now-familiar catcalls of visiting fans predicting his sacking. “Playing at home and losing 3-0 is a very, very, very bad result,” he said. That may have been compounded by the context.

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Forest kicked off in the relegation zone and without a clean sheet in 19 Premier League matches. Liverpool ended up defeated and demolished. They have the most expensive striker in the history of English football; despite – some might say, because of – that, they drew a blank.

For the first time in two and a half years, Liverpool have failed to score in consecutive games. For the first time since April 1965, they have lost successive league matches by three goals. More recently, it has been a stunning, staggering decline over the last two months. This was an eighth defeat in 11 outings, and a sixth in seven in the Premier League. Before then, it would have seemed utterly implausible that Liverpool would only take three points from a possible 21. A team who had a five-point lead at the summit now have a negative goal difference.

There are, perhaps, too many unflattering facts to cite them all, just as too much went awry for Liverpool to claim a match hinged on an officiating decision; especially not when, of two major calls, one allowed Forest a goal and the other denied them a second.

Slot, to his credit, did not play that particular blame game. “I think no one needs to hear me talking about refereeing decisions,” he said. “I should look at myself more.” And the principal architects of Liverpool’s downfall are Liverpool themselves.

Basic, familiar failings include an inability to defend set pieces and a susceptibility to fast breaks. Forest exploited them, like too many teams before them. Murillo’s opener came from a corner, meaning Liverpool have now conceded nine set-piece goals in the Premier League, behind only Forest and West Ham. Nicolo Savona and Morgan Gibbs-White struck after Forest advanced at speed. Liverpool were a shambles at the end, Slot overloading with attackers in a tactic that seemed to stem more from desperation than inspiration. It felt symbolic that Rio Ngumoha came on, making it five forwards on the pitch in an ersatz 3-3-4 formation, but before he could touch the ball, Gibbs-White had scored.

Other problems could be traced to the team sheet. Slot weakened the side by including a £125m striker. Alexander Isak was a passenger. A game took place around him, but rarely involving him. A team with no points from losing positions in the top flight needed to score first; instead, for the ninth time in their 11-game slump, Liverpool conceded first.

“Before the 1-0, I was just waiting for us to score,” said Slot. Alexis Mac Allister had a shot brilliantly headed off the line by Elliot Anderson. Milos Kerkez skied his effort, also from a low cutback. But Liverpool went behind. “It is a very difficult cocktail to have if you miss out on your own chances and almost every time you concede one, the ball goes in,” Slot added.

And Elliot Anderson’s corner fell to Murillo, who fired in a shot. The Premier League released a statement after the match ruling that Dan Ndoye was in an offside position, in a sequel to Liverpool’s goal at Manchester City that was controversially disallowed because of the alleged involvement of a ducking Andy Robertson. This one stood, though, perhaps because Ndoye was more static.

Then, Igor Jesus dispatched a half-volley before seeing his apparent goal disallowed for handball. The contact with his arm appeared slight, but VAR upheld referee Andy Madley’s decision. “I am surprised,” said Dyche. “We will ask for an explanation.”

Yet those questions matter less now. Forest had the incision to double their lead from a combination of defenders, Savona finishing from a low centre from Neco Williams after a mistake by Mac Allister. The Italian has scored against Manchester United and Liverpool inside a month; if it is unlike Dyche to have two full-backs in the opposition’s penalty box in open play, perhaps it was a sign he can be more expansive with better players.

Gibbs-White, who belongs in that category, fired in the rebound after Alisson parried Omari Hutchinson’s shot to score in a third consecutive league game. “We had enough in our locker to cause trouble on the break,” added Dyche. “It is a different way of winning. I said to them, ‘How do you win football matches without the ball?’” Forest had 25 per cent of possession but got three goals. Dyche savoured “the hard yards, the ugly side of the game”. The table looks better for him now. “Everything is not solved, but it is a good strong marker,” he said.

For Liverpool, though, everything has rarely felt further from being solved.

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