Nottingham Forest 0, Liverpool 1 – Match Recap: Macca At The Death
NOTTINGHAM FOREST 0 – 1 LIVERPOOL
Liverpool: Mac Allister 90+6’
Pre-Match
The men are at Arne Slot’s nemesis this Sunday, visiting Nottingham Forest to try and keep the streak of wins going. With two wins on the bounce in the league and the FA Cup, the momentum is cautiously on our side after that dramatic and frustrating loss to Manchester City. Joe Gomez may be fit enough to at least be named to the bench, and maybe, just maybe, we can get through this with all three points. Whisper, don’t scare them off, especially on a weekend when some others have dropped points that might be advantageous for us. Forest also are on their fourth? fifth? manager of the season and though Vitor Pereira led them to a 3-0 win against Fenerbahce in the Europa League, they are currently in 17th place with three points keeping them above West Ham, so a win is probably more important for them than us. Let’s hope that the Robin Hood version of our squad isn’t drawn out by virtue of the location.
First Half
The lineup is a little concerning, with Florian Wirtz scratched late after warm ups, but we get the game started and Forest get going on the front foot. They get forward and have a nervy moment when Alisson is tested early but his blocks the shot and Liverpool fight take back control. Forest have come out looking for a fight in these opening five minutes, and it looks like we’re a little unprepared for it. We look a little bewildered to see them playing so assertively and that doesn’t really bode well for us.
Liverpool win a free kick just outside the box, in the sweet spot for Dominik Szoboszlai, after Cody Gakpo is taken down in the 12th minute, but the Hungarian’s effort doesn’t quite get there and is headed away. The Reds look like they’ve gotten a little bit of confidence from the moment for a very brief period but its snuffed out after another foul in the middle of the park. We’ve just been playing more reactively than anyone would like, with Forest able to stretch us out and take advantage of the moments when we try to move the ball. It feels like the frustrating period in November, rather than the more lively period we’ve been in.
It’s really hard to write about when they play like this, honestly. What do you say when we’re losing second balls and letting the hosts dictate the match, and our response is to slow things down even more. Every time we get a sniff at the ball we lose control with poor touches. Virgil van Dijk takes a ball to the back of the head from Igor Jesus and everyone is treating it pretty nonchalantly until the captain actually stays down to receive treatment. He gets back up and play resumes but that looked like a hard hit. There’s a promising bit of play at the 35th minute with Salah getting into the area but his cross goes to nobody as Gakpo doesn’t get into the right place at the right time to receive it.
We’ve reached the last five or so minutes of the half and Forest are threatening our goal once again, winning a corner but the shot hits the top of the net and bounces off for a goal kick, that Alisson takes short. Forest have just been able to dispossess us at every turn, and we’re not doing enough to win the ball back, making for a very frustrating half. Somehow we have more possession and have nothing to show for it.
Second Half
The teams come back out for the second half with Darude’s hit Sandstorm blasting through the stadium, with no changes made to either squad. The sun has returned to probably wreak more havoc on the vision of the players, not that is an excuse for the poor play. Liverpool do win a couple of corners early on, but Forest move the ball clumsily enough for us to not make anything of it, while the hosts are getting a little more creative and threatening. Not great for us early on in the half.
We’ve been able to keep a little more control of the ball as the second half has settled, with Curtis Jones carrying the ball further into the final third. There was a huge chance at the 53rd minute as the ball gets into traffic and looks like it might stumble over the line, but the angle of the cameras was deceptive and the ball came out instead of going in. Liverpool are turning the screw with a little more urgency now, rather than sitting back on our heels.
We reach the hour mark and thankfully neither team has scored despite various chances. Hugo Ekitike is pulled down by the shirt and Liverpool win another free kick, but the ball goes wide off of Mac Allister’s head. It feels like we’re doing a whole lot of work with nothing else to show for it and it’s continuing the frustration. We don’t feel any closer to scoring a meaningful goal than we did in the first half, and we’re over an hour into the match. There is a promising bit of play as Dominik Szoboszlai is given space to move forward and the ball gets shifted to Salah waiting on the wing but his cross in is thwarted and the whistle is blown because Konate pushes Jesus over after the attacker pushed him twice in the first half.
Arne Slot makes the first changes of the match around the 75th minte, bringing on Rio Ngumoha and Federico Chiesa for Salah and Gakpo respectively. Judging by the lack of depth on our bench, it might be the only change we’ll make. At this point we are just trying to carry the ball around Forest and potentially try to tire them out, but the problem is that we’re also getting tired. Two more changes are made, with Andy Robertson and Joe Gomez coming on for Kerkez and Curtis Jones, allowing Szoboszlai to move back into midfield and go for a late push for that one goal. Gomez immediately gets to work, showing off his long throw in skills (!!!) and we get closer to the goal line but no joy.
THE JOY FINALLY COMES! We get another throw in and after some tricky play by Rio moving the ball in, it is MAC ALLISTER GETTING IT OVER THE LINE! Ekitike heads in the cross and the effort is blocked but Mac Allister deflects the ball right over. Just kidding, the joy is taken away after VAR decides that Mac Allister’s position and where the ball hit him was a handball and PGMOL wins again.
MACCA GETS ANOTHER CHANCE AND FOLLOWS IN A VIRGIL HEADER TO TAKE BACK THE SCORE! PGMOL and VAR do their damnedest to try and ruin things for us but it’s GOOD, LIVERPOOL WIN!
Final Thoughts
Did we deserve that win? Maybe not. But Mac Allister surely was going to make sure they didn’t fully ruin his day.
Source: liverpooloffside.sbnation.com
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