Key events
Tony Barr gets in touch: “Not sure how much Slot had a say in the transfers, but let’s play this out:
“Trent leaves on a free was definitely up to him. Not much LFC can do if a player decides they want to play for Los Blancos for truckload of Euros. Arne, would you like the best striker in the PL, other than Halaand? Hmm let me think about that…Arne would you like Germany’s generational attacking pkahmaking talent? Hmmm let me think about that.
”Hindsight is 20:20. The best time for renewal is when things are going well. I’d rather look at the gamble taken to not to fully bolster the central defence or not find a fledgling replacement for Mo…”
Ian Copestake gets back in touch: “We might see a sub subbed at halftime with Gomez coming on for Jones. Then the rightback curse will rub its hands again.”
And from Brian Kitt: “Freddie Woodman on the bench for Liverpool sounds like he could tell the Forest for the trees.”
Liverpool have two goalies on the bench for some reason.
Dave Estherby gets in touch: “I think it’s interesting that the whole, “Slot won with Klopp’s team” thing only started at the beginning of this season after a pretty disastrous summer in the transfer market; Letting (one of) your best player(s) leave for free and not replacing him, being sold an absolute pup by Newcastle, not recognizing the captain’s race is run, not getting a better backup for an injury-prone goalkeeper and finally, well, Florian Wirtz. Slot had at least a hand in all these decisions.”
Half-time scores in the Premier League
It’s the best league in the world, don’t you know?
Half-time: Nottingham Forest 0-0 Liverpool
It’s been bad from Liverpool, good from Forest, so Liverpool ought to be relieved while Forest must be frustrated. They have been excellent in all but the scoring goals and creating proper chances discipline. A word for Liverpool’s defenders, who have been put through quite the workload but held firm.
45+3 min: Milenkovic launches one over the bar, and that should be the end of the action for the first 45.
45+2 min: Some loud screams from the bench? Slot or Pereira? You decide.
45+1 min: Three minutes were added on. Liverpool are about to feel the lash of the Slot tongue in the dressing room. In midfield an attack, they have been not much short of dreadful.
45 min: Forest push on for the goal their first half deserves. Liverpool’s defenders deserve some credit for their good work. Anderson gets chance to shoot but drifts his attempt over the bar. Pereira is full of angst once more.
43 min: Another timely block, this time from Szoboszlai, as Gibbs-White tries to shoot. The one-way traffic continues. But the corner is again a waste. Will Forest live to regret this?
41 min: Alisson is forced to tip behind when Hutchinson scoops in a cross. Corner ball. This one goes deep and the danger recedes for now. Jesus misdirects his header when the ball comes back in.
40 min: Van Dijk has made a goal saving intervention just when Igor Jesus shaped to shoot. Vitor Pereira throws his head back in angst.
39 min: Ian Copestake gets in touch: “May the Liverpool players never have days off before a game. They still seem to be on a beach.”
Thought the same of Chelsea’s Dubai crew on Saturday.
Tim Woods did too: “No radio commentary of the game in Germany, and a lot of pubs have stopped showing English games due to the cost. So I am gratefully following your updates, with Berlin radio helping the afternoon along; outings for Roxette, Alphaville and even Johnny Hates Jazz so far!”
Shattered dreams.
38 min: Gravenberch rages when he’s penalised for fouling Anderson. This is a frustrated Liverpool team.
36 min: Salah gets chance to cross. And it’s awful. His descent this season has been uncomfortable to watch.
35 min: Forest still looking for that golden moment. Perhaps inviting on Liverpool can open up space. Hugo Ekitike – forgot he was playing.
34 min: Another loose Salah touch – he’s not had many touches at all – and Sangare takes the ball off him.
32 min: Van Dijk has taken another blow to the head, after Igor Jesus clatters the ball into his face. Curtis Jones been shifted to right-back, it seems. With Szoboszlai to midfield.
30 min: It’s been a poor half hour from Liverpool but they remain level.
28 min: Florian Wirtz, in fetching woolly hat, is sat in the stands. Liverpool all at sea as Alisson has to skid out of goal to prevent a corner as Konate dallies. The long throw is not good, a waste of a situation.
26 min: Lovely piece of control from Anderson, who kills a high ball stone dead with w waft of his boot. Forest have some good players, and Anderson leads the list.
25 min: Gibbs-White is fouled by Konate, whose considerable bulk lands on his victim’s foot in the aftermath. An accident but that will bruise.
24 min: Kari Tulinius gets in touch: “Early days and all that, but Vitor Pereira’s Trees seem like a trickier side to play against than Dyche’s. There’s a lot more closing down of opponents with the ball, and attacks are more frenetic. On the whole they run a lot more. Difficult to play against, but given the added workload of European football, which Pereira didn’t have with Wolves, I imagine that Forest will tire after a few weeks of this.”
23 min: Fair to say Wirtz is being missed? Forest continue to be all over Liverpool who cannot keep hold of the ball at the moment.
21 min: Hudson-Odoi is to the fore, as he has been all game. Can Forest make something of their dominance of possession? Hutchinson at least tests Alisson but his shot is something of a pea-roller. No trouble for the great man.
20 min: The referee, Anthony Taylor, is not a popular man in Nottingham, from experience. “It’s all about you” is one song they sing.
19 min: A delegation around the ball. Taken short and Murillo smashes with his left peg. The Liverpool wall holds firm and then Gakpo does some decent defensive work. Gibbs-White is booked for not retreating from a free-kick.
17 min: More defending to do for Liverpool. Murillo has a shot blocked, and then Van Dijk and Anderson clash heads, which brings the game to a temporary halt. Both are OK. Forest have a free-kick after Igor Jesus was fouled.
16 min: A Mr Keet gets in touch: “I get really bored of the “Klopp’s team” thing, and the idea in general that managers are responsible for “building” teams. Klopp and Slot, and managers of most other big teams, are part of a recruitment team and, typically, won’t have the final say on transfers (just an input.) Yes, slot benefitted from inheriting a good side, and one that had been well coached by klopp. He then had to manage them and coach them for an entire season in order to win the league. Take training, set the tactics, motivate the team.”
14 min: Jeremy Boyce gets in touch: “I can’t help seeing this fixture without hearing the echoes of the terrible events at Hillsborough in 1989, when these two, at that time, giants of the English game briefly clashed before the tragedy at the Leppings Lane end. Much water has flowed under the bridges of the Trent and Mersey since then and the two have enjoyed vastly differing fortunes. Never mind whether Slot won the League with Jurgen’s team, what is clear to see is that Liverpool have always prioritised continuity in the dug out, whereas…. Does Pereira understand what and who he’s taking on within his own club, never mind the oppos on the pitch ? Another new manager, another new style ? We’re about to find out…”
13 min: The weapon of choice was a training round routine that Forest hurriedly beat away.
12 min: Gakpo passes the ball into open space, a no look, no clue pass, and Forest can go again. They too lose position and Sangare fouls Gravenberch. Is this in Szoboszlai’s range?
11 min: Anderson strides forward and shoots just wide. Forest are all over Liverpool at the moment.
10 min: Aina sets off on a give and go, and is knocked over by Mac Allister. The free-kick is a long way out. And taken short, Van Dijk heads the eventual cross away. There are claims that Gibbs-White was fouled by Gravenberch but nothing doing, not even on VAR.
8 min: Sangare is asked to shoot by the home fans but Forest hold on to the ball. They’ve been good so far. Liverpool are struggling with their zest.
7 min: The corner is low and a waster, not beating the first man. Pereira reaches for his notebook.
6 min: Anderson’s ball to Hudson-Odoi sees Konate come across to clean up, and a corner results, Forest’s first.
5 min: Gakpo, who seems ever all but ever present, chases the ball down the channels. When Salah gets chance to make an incursion, his touch is loose. As it often is these days, sadly.
3 min: Pressure put on Virgil van Dijk gives Forest a glimmer, and then the ball comes back to Forest. Hudson-Odoi takes the ball down, shoots and Alisson comes to the rescue. That was close. It could have been much better than close.
2 min: Liverpool settle into some early possession. It’s loud at the City Ground which is louder these days than it often was in days of yore.
Away we go at the City Ground
1 min: Curtis Jones is in midfield, Szoboszlai lines up at right-back. Forest are going for a league double over Liverpool. It’s been a strange old season for them.
Footage of Wirtz does not suggest serious injury, but he told the coaches he could not play. Will Curtis Jones now play right-back?
Vitor Pereira is applauded as he walks out for the first half. Nottingham Forest fans are rather too used to this type of thing by now.
Wirtz out…
Curtis Jones steps in, after an injury in the warm-up. Or so we think. It may be sickness.
Eric Peterson gets in touch: “I wouldn’t mind Wayne Rooney pulling on an old Everton kit and getting on some podcast to remind Arne Slot, “Easy there, sport. You say that the only thing you and Jurgen Klopp have in common is that you both won the league. That’s not true. You both won the league with Jurgen’s team. Whether you can build a champion of your own is a different question.”
Arne Slot just spoke to Sky, starting with Dominik Szoboszlai at full-back: “He needs to be because that’s what we need. We have our issues, especially in defence. Missing our 2 fullbacks, but Dominic has done that job really well. Last week, Curtis Jones, did his job really well. So that’s the good thing about midfielders, they are usually able to play in more positions than only in the midfields.
“A little bit of a different challenge. because a manager head coach has impact on playing style, but in the end, they’re still the same players. And I think they have a lot of quality players.
“Sometimes games can be equal on set pieces and then other parts of the game are also important. But as I said so many times, it’s very, very, very hard to win a game of football if you concede more set-pieces than you score. So that’s why it just has always been an important part of the game. But that is even increased even more this season.”
Matt Dony gets in touch: “I hope Neco Williams has a great game, and all Liverpool’s goals(!) come down the other flank. I really thought he’d be the successor to TAA, and he’d be a superstar for Wales. He’s obviously very good, can be a really lovely footballer to watch, but just never quite became what we were hoping. The difference between ‘good’ and ‘great’ is such a fine line in so many ways, but a yawning chasm in others.”
Vitor Pereira is currently sat on his own in the Forest dugout but spoke to Sky Sports, starting with that big win at Fenerbahce: “It was special mentally. The team was there in the first minute. This is the squad we need, mentally and tactically. And this is what we need today.
“We need to be organised when we are defending, we need to be committed with the team. We need the spirit to run, win duels and when we have the ball, it’s about quality and talent. Expressing themselves. I try to give them confidence to do that. We cannot face a game thinking about the position in the table.
“In my opinion, we need to do our best, be ourselves because I don’t want a team that plays in a way, then changes a way to play. I want a team with identity, trusts themselves and have confidence in the way we are working to play.”
For Forest, an unchanged team from Fenerbahce, while for Liverpool, two changes from Brighton in the FA Cup, Ryan Gravenberch in for Curtis Jones and Hugo Ekitike in for Federico Chiesa. That looks like Szoboszlai at right-back, with Gravenberch as midfield anchor.
The teams
Nottingham Forest: Ortega, Aina, Milenkovic, Murillo, Williams, Sangare, Anderson, Hutchinson, Gibbs-White, Hudson-Odoi, Igor Jesus. Subs: Gunn, Morato, Ndoye, Dominguez, Lucca, Yates, Jair Cunha, McAtee, Bakwa.
Liverpool: Alisson, Szoboszlai, Konate, van Dijk, Kerkez, Gravenberch, Mac Allister, Salah, Wirtz, Gakpo, Ekitike. Subs: Mamardashvili, Gomez, Chiesa, Jones, Robertson, Nyoni, Ramsay, Morrison, Ngumoha.
Referee: Anthony Taylor (Cheshire)
Arne Slot was in punchy mood in his Friday press conference.
And it went well for Pereira back at Fenerbahce.
I was at Vitor Pereira’s unveiling earlier this week. He spoke well, I thought.
Preamble
All change at Forest – again – with Vitor Pereira the third new manager to be shown off to the City Ground this season. His reign started well in midweek with a good Europa League win. Now for Liverpool, on the revival path though rueing defeats to Bournemouth and Manchester City. They’re in a serious race for the top four/five while Forest stare down the relegation battle. Plenty to play for, in a fixture of rich history.
