After impressive performances and victories against reigning champions Manchester City and a revived West Ham, Liverpool's fortunes looked to be on the up. Enter Nottingham Forest, the last placed team in the Premier League, with an impressive 1-0 victory in front of their jubilant fans at the City Ground.
Based on current form most people can be forgiven for having Liverpool as favourites heading into Saturday's game away to newly promoted Nottingham Forest. What we might have failed to consider though, is that Liverpool has not won an away game the entire season and they're currently ravaged with injuries to key midfield players. This forced Klopp into throwing in some of his younger players like Jones and Harvey Elliot to contest and unfortunately lose a very physical midfield battle. Nottingham Forest had clearly studied Liverpool and adjusted their tactics from playing 3 at the back into playing a flat 4 and overloading the midfield with 5 players. It was reminiscent of Liverpool's tactics against Manchester City. Forest's midfield overload ensured that the Liverpool fullbacks were pegged back for most of the game and without such players as Thiago, Liverpool's attack and creativity was rendered useless. Evident of Nottingham Forest's tactical discipline is the fact that Liverpool's best chances were from set play and Virgil Van Dyke could've easily scored a brace from his aerial dominance, but it was one of those days where Forest goalkeeper Dean Henderson was determined to not get beat.
To restrict Nottingham Forest's display to a defensive masterpiece would be an injustice as they had a clear plan of catching Liverpool in transition and forced Allison into a couple of big saves before eventually getting the opener and eventual winner through former Liverpool player, Awoniyi. This was an enjoyable game for the neutrals, but a frustrating one for Liverpool fans as the team seems unable to maintain the high standards they had set for themselves over the past 5 seasons or so. They now find themselves 12 points behind leaders Arsenal and with injuries as well as the upcoming World Cup, one wonders what Liverpool's season entails.
Nottingham on the other hand, will be pleased with their victory and hopefully use it as a springboard on their quest to maintain their Premier League status.
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