Daniel’s Debrief: Liverpool 3-0 Nottingham Forest

Anfield. Many, many great games there. But do you remember Southampton in 2021? Watford in 2019? Fulham in 2018? Cardiff in 2013? West Brom in 2008?

Probably no to them all.

Yet they are all important and exactly like yesterday. Winning comfortably at home against a bottom-half team without any hint of fuss.

They may not be memorable. But these are some of the most important wins en route to a title charge.

And all five of those games were three points towards Liverpool challenging for the league in 08/09, 13/14, 18/19, 19/20 and 21/22.

And I think yesterday’s win will be one of those for 23/24.

Not the most exciting of wins but one that never looks in doubt and one that doesn’t require Liverpool to ever get out of second gear. 

The Reds make a patient start to the game and look to carve open chances but Forest are fairly resolute to start with. It’s not until Darwin Nunez’s chance at the near post that there is a sense of threat coming. 

Trent Alexander-Arnold has a really good half an hour and manages his position really well - Jurgen Klopp has him inverting when needed, not just for the sake of it. The positional maturity Alexander-Arnold shows this season is testament to how much he’s improving and developing.

What’s interesting is how narrow Liverpool are in the middle of the park in particular. We crowd central areas and prevent any Forest counter-attacks.

Alexis Mac Allister looks more comfortable in the six than he has done in any game so far. The way he positions himself so neatly and accurately to win the ball on multiple occasions is something we’ve seen him struggle with and yet in this game he excels.

This is arguably his best performance for Liverpool off-the-ball. In Ibrahim Sangare, Forest have a more typical DM on the pitch yet it’s Mac Allister who looks like the more cultured and convincing six.

It’s still unclear what the long-term plan is here (or even short-term plan) but the way he has adapted to an unfamiliar position and kept out Wataru Endo, an actual DM, is testament to how highly Klopp rates him and how essential he is to the improvements Liverpool have made this season. His work with the ball is first-quality and his passing range and selection is very, very good.

His performance here has elements of what he used to do for Brighton, with progressive and vertical passing. And this is how the first goal comes about, combined with a bit of DM-ing as well.

He wins it well from a marauding Murillo, who has a strange game overall. A clean win and good awareness to feed Salah with an incisive ball out wide and suddenly the Reds are three-on-three.

Salah is smart here, taking a great touch to bring himself more central and allow Diogo Jota and Nunez to make runs to his left and his right. I actually think Jota is the better ball here but he plays in Nunez. 

It’s a hard finish from a tighter angle than Jota would’ve had and while he gets a clean strike away, the placement isn’t there and it’s parried away by Matt Turner. But only into the path of Jota, who crashes the ball home.

His anticipation is first-class and you’d never back against him finding the net in a game. His goals record for Liverpool comparative to his minutes is bordering on the elite.

A modern-day Dirk Kuyt and the kind of player Sir Alex Ferguson loved at United - Ruud Van Nistelrooy.

What’s really good about Liverpool here is how they don’t settle for 1-0. They are desperate to make it two before the break and they sense Forest blood.

And they get it four minutes later.

Jota is where it all starts with some superb creative play from inside his own half. He waits and he waits so smartly until there is a gap and until there is sufficient support ahead of him.

He’s brilliant, Jota. Such an effective and hard-working forward. No frills but everything he does makes a difference to the team and I truly think this season his link-up and ability to contribute to general play has gone up a level.

Jota plays a perfect pass to Szoboszlai and he finds Salah in the half-space. Salah’s trickery and change of feet is unbelievable and he pokes the return ball through for Szoboszlai to run onto and square for Nunez to smash home.

2-0. 

Two brilliant goals.

Once again, despite utter dominance, both Liverpool goals have come from counter-attacking situations. 

The pace of the forwards and the progressive passing of the middle men make Liverpool a terrifying prospect on the counter this season. They can turn defence into attack in a matter of seconds, a matter of two or three passes.

The right side of the pitch is deadly for Liverpool in that first half. Salah and Szoboszlai combine on multiple occasions with the midfielder pulling wide for reverse balls and at times, playing more like a Pep Guardiola midfielder than a Klopp one.

They go for a third before the break, Nunez with an overhead kick high and Ryan Gravenberch and Szoboszlai both seeing efforts from the edge of the box saved by Turner.

Despite his antics in the second half, Turner keeps Forest in it in the first half and the away side offer absolutely nothing in terms of threat or even ambition.

I’m surprised by Steve Cooper’s approach. I get they might have been hoping for a draw but they seem devoid of any belief that they can cause Liverpool any problems whatsoever, and Alisson Becker has one of the easiest games of his career.

The second half sees Liverpool turn into a classic title-winning side - 2-0 up and they make it utterly boring. Pretty much nothing happens for a good half an hour.

The Reds pass the ball around at a pedestrian speed and run the clock down. Not only do they not allow Forest a sniff, but they expend such little energy in a second half that is played at walking pace.

I heard Phil Blundell say that we looked like one of Guardiola’s Bayern Munich teams in that second half and I get that comparison but to me the second half is more Jose Mourinho at Chelsea.

It’s controlled dominance. It’s doing as little as possible while also ensuring the opposition get as little as possible.

It’s also reminiscent of any of those Liverpool games I referred to at the start of this piece.

It’s a boring game for the neutral yet for Liverpool it’s mature, necessary and ultimately, easy.

Mohamed Salah gets the third goal towards the last ten minutes and I’ll come to him in a minute, as he is arguably Liverpool’s player of the season so far. But the goal starts from two other contenders for that accolade.

Dominik Szoboszlai and Virgil Van Dijk.

Szoboszlai is a delight to watch in this game as he has been all season, his numbers for the match are incredible and he manages to combine his phenomenal creativity, skill and goal threat with immense aggression and desire in the defensive side of the game.

It’s another special individual performance from him.

And Van Dijk is making defending look easy again, like he did from 2017 to 2020. The captaincy, as well as personal disappointment from last season, is clearly motivating him back to those levels.

He’s defending with authority and desire, something which seemed to be so lacking from his game last campaign.

And Jesus Christ, it is some header he wins that starts this move for the third goal. Moussa Niakhate launches a long throw into the box and Van Dijk leaps to beat two men in the air and come out with the ball.

It comes to Szoboszlai and he has the option of an easy pass to Nunez but this guy isn’t about the easy pass and he plays a long diagonal into Salah’s path.

Szoboszlai’s ability was obvious from his time with Red Bull Leipzig but it’s his fitness and his constant ambition with the ball that has taken me by surprise. Our De Bruyne. Our Odegaard.

Turner comes out and is in no man’s land. I’m going to be controversial though and say that Harry Toffolo is more at fault than Turner here, as he just gets right in his way and forces the American to have to try and head the ball.

Salah has the easiest of tasks to slot the ball home and it’s 3-0.

And it’s two goals with his right foot in the space of four days.

Salah again doesn’t have quite his best day in terms of his own sight at goal but does so much for everyone else - his work for the Nunez goal is delicious and he’s obviously involved in the Jota one too. A complete footballer.

And it’s another goal scored on the counter. In April, Forest come to Anfield and while we win 3-2, they’re so competitive in the physical battles and cause constant problems from Niakhate’s long throws.

This year, they don’t get a sniff and one of Niakhate’s long throws ends up leading to a Liverpool goal. 

With the injuries to Chris Wood and Divock Origi, and the lack of fitness in Taiwo Awoniyi, Forest lack a focal point and therefore struggle for an outlet until the latter comes on later in the game.

I think Nicolas Dominguez has quite a good game, as does Anthony Elanga, who is unfortunate to hit the ball late on. Morgan Gibbs-White is surprisingly quiet though and part of that is a credit to how well Liverpool do tactically to crowd the midfield.

And defensively, they are so assured with Van Dijk and Ibrahima Konate, who both have good days.

Kostas Tsimikas is pretty quiet going forward as so much focus is placed on the right-hand triangle of Alexander-Arnold, Szoboszlai and Salah, but he gets the full 90 and is relatively untested defensively.

Harvey Elliott and Cody Gakpo are both brought on and Elliott plays in the same way his incumbent Gravenberch does - not spectacular but looks after the ball.

Gakpo has a goal ruled out by VAR after he is stood light years offside and somehow it isn’t flagged. Watching the game, you see how far offside it looks but you think surely the linesman can’t be so bad that he actually thinks that’s onside?

Next up is Bournemouth in the League Cup and while there’ll probably be changes to the lineup, let’s hope Klopp names a strong enough squad to book a quarter-final place.

With Curtis Jones back from suspension, there’s just Thiago, Andy Robertson and Stefan Bajcetic injured, and of course Luis Diaz, who’s availability is not the biggest concern right now.

On the topic of suspensions, yesterday was Mac Allister’s fourth yellow card, meaning he’s one away from missing a league game - might we see him picking up a tactical yellow in midweek so he misses the Luton game and is not at risk for Brentford and Man City? 

Alexander-Arnold is on three, as well.

In a weekend where Man City, Arsenal and Tottenham all win, Liverpool cruising to three more points is crucial.

I talked about this package of four league games - Everton, Forest, Luton and Brentford - saying we need a minimum of ten points and a minimum of fuss.

And yesterday is the most comfortable and consummate win Liverpool have had in some time, in fact there’s only really Forest and Aston Villa that the Reds have won in such a fashion.

Professional.

Daniel