Arne Slot makes blunt Nottingham Forest point after shock Liverpool defeat

Arne Slot admits Liverpool have been dealt a “big setback” after the head coach suffered a shock first loss of his reign. A goal 18 minutes from time from substitute Callum Hudson-Odoi earned Nottingham Forest a 1-0 Premier League win at Anfield on Saturday afternoon.

It was Forest’s first triumph at Liverpool since February 1969 and brought an end to a 100% start to the season under Slot after three previous victories.

And while dismissing suggestions it is a major early blow to his plans, the Reds boss accepted it was an unexpected reverse.

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“Not to the process, but it is a big setback,” said Slot. “If you lose a home game, that’s always a setback.

“Especially if you face a team – you never know, maybe they will go all the way to fight for the Champions League places – but normally this team isn’t ending up in top 10, so if you lose a game against them that’s a big disappointment, although they were organised and structured really well today.

“How will we react? I want to see the same energy every single day, after a big win, after a small win, after a draw, after a loss.

“We need to go out to work again tomorrow, analyse what we did well and what we didn’t do well. There were things we could improve after the Man United game and we showed them also a few good things. That’s going to be the same tomorrow and the day after.

“This was a different game to the ones we played until now because we faced a low block, the team we faced played really low. Because of a result of that we had a lot of ball possession but were not able to create a lot.”

The defeat was a disappointing start to a run of seven games in 22 days for Liverpool, with the Reds next in Italy on Tuesday for their Champions League opener at AC Milan.

Slot, though, is unwilling to rip up his methods and approach on the back of one surprise reverse.

“It wouldn’t be good if I changed,” he said. “If I would change my way of preparation after a loss it would mean I would only do my best work after we lose.

“I always try to do the same, just the same as I expect from the players. They have to recover in the best possible way after a win, loss or draw.

“We will try to be in the best possible way for Tuesday which is going to be a completely different game. But a game where we will face a lot of quality.