Arne Slot’s honeymoon period as Liverpool head coach came to an end as Nottingham Forest pulled off a shock victory at Anfield.
Even taking into account the visitors’ 23-year Premier League absence, the gap between this 1-0 win and their last success here in February 1969 seemed a long time.
But Forest did what they had to do – hold out long enough against off-colour opponents to carve out a decent opportunity, although when it came it was barely a half-chance.
VICTORY AT ANFIELD 🙌 pic.twitter.com/UwShzwsMZt
— Nottingham Forest (@NFFC) September 14, 2024
Substitute Callum Hudson-Odoi had a semblance of an idea when he picked up the ball on the left wing but, after cutting inside past Conor Bradley and Ibrahima Konate, even he could not have imagined how perfectly he would strike his low curling shot which crept inside Alisson Becker’s left-hand post.
It extended their unbeaten start to the season while ending Liverpool’s, whose concession of their first goal of the campaign proved pivotal.
Forest were helped by some terribly scrappy play by the hosts, who looked very much like they not seen each other for a fortnight as passes went astray and touches were missed too frequently.
It was all a bit too disjointed, which was exactly how Forest would have wanted it to be, and Liverpool’s best chance was probably their first of the game.
Forest captain Ryan Yates’ attempt to shepherd out the ball saw Luis Diaz nip past to cut inside and shoot against a post, with the ball ricocheting across the face of goal.
Dominik Szoboszlai headed wide and Diogo Jota volleyed straight at Matz Sels from sumptuous outside-of-the-boot crosses from Mohamed Salah and Alexis Mac Allister respectively, but those brief moments of quality were fleeting.
In between an offside Morgan Gibbs-White dinked wide in a one-on-one with Alisson.
Virgil van Dijk’s weak effort dropped wide before Sels saved from Trent Alexander-Arnold’s inswinging corner and Mac Allister’s header.
The Forest goalkeeper did not handle Diaz’s ballooned header as well, however, and his fumble saw the the ball dropping down on the line before he snatched it up.
Even the usually reliable radar of Alexander-Arnold, man of the match in both England games during the international break, was off as he was unable to knit together anything coherent from an attacking point of view.
Liverpool also failed to isolate Salah against Alex Moreno, booked just before half-time, often enough, although the Egypt international did fashion the first chance after the break with a shot which was tipped around the near post.
Slot had seen enough and made a triple change on the hour as he tweaked his set-up.
Off came Diaz and Mac Allister after their long trips back from South America, plus Jota, and on came Darwin Nunez, Cody Gakpo and Bradley, with Alexander-Arnold moving into midfield.
Anthony Elanga wasted a good chance when he blazed over having found space on Liverpool’s left, while Alexander-Arnold’s shot was deflected wide after Nunez robbed Elanga.
Things were becoming a little too frenzied, something Slot has tried to reduce in the team’s approach since taking over from the more chaotic style of predecessor Jurgen Klopp.
However, it was to get more frenetic when Hudson-Odoi scored.
Another change saw defender Konate replaced by midfielder Curtis Jones, with Ryan Gravenberch dropping into the back four, while chances came and went for Szoboszlai and Van Dijk.
Fans started heading for the exits as five minutes of added time was announced, something not seen since the very early days of Klopp’s reign.
The belief may not have gone, but Slot’s side have to rediscover the resilience to produce the late magic reminiscent of the previous era if they are to sustain the early progress made.
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