One of the perks of the Premier League of old was the fact that it was possible for a relegation-battling side to beat top opposition with a strong defensive display and extremely drilled counterattacking approach, especially at home in front of a booming stadium. That was the way of it when Nottingham Forest welcomed Liverpool at the City Ground on Saturday, with former Liverpool striker Taiwo Awoniyi netting the only goal of the game to being his new club vital three points.
Liverpool resurgence short-lived
Matches like this have been known to happen, so if observed as isolated event, it seems like small worry. But given the season Liverpool have had so far, to lose now to a team lying at the bottom of the table is an extremely painful blow.
Only Liverpool, many would say, are able to beat Manchester City and lose to Nottingham Forest within a week. There are, of course, some mitigating factors to consider, but the fact that this result represent a major setback in their efforts to close the gap to the teams occupying the top positions in the league table cannot be hidden from.
Ibrahima Konate, Joel Matip, Arthur Melo, Naby Keita, Luis Diaz, Diogo Jota and Darwin Nunez – these are all names of the players Jurgen Klopp wasn’t able to call upon, and for example, having three attackers out of action while your team desperately needs a goal against a stubborn defence will undoubtedly spoil any team’s chances. Jota and Diaz were among the few players that have pulled Liverpool forward this season and Nunez seemed like he could be getting into his stride with two goals in the last three matches, so to have them all missing is a big disadvantage.
But truth be told, the biggest problem Liverpool face at the moment is the poor form of those who are available. Fabinho, Jordan Henderson and Mohamed Salah obviously stand out the most in that aspect, leaving Alisson Becker and Roberto Firmino the only ones who still perform at the level expected. But Firmino could not unlock the Forest defence on his own, nor could Alisson have done anything about the goal which lost his team the game. James Milner, deployed this time at right-back to provide some rest for Trent Alexander-Arnold, also did a decent job at the age of 37, but overall, looking at the whole Liverpool team, they’ve been showing too little since the start of the term.
To make things worse, the youngsters who should be looking at this time of crisis as the perfect opportunity to break into the team simply aren’t delivering. Curtis Jones, Fabio Carvalho and Harvey Elliott all started the game, and not one of them can be said to have done much to swing the tie Liverpool’s way.
Following the triumphs over Manchester City last Sunday and West Ham in midweek, few could have foreseen the Merseysiders faltering at the home of Nottingham Forest, and yet, here we are. A complete lack of creativity in the middle of the park forced the team to hit long balls towards Salah with greater frequency than usual, and those passes, obviously anticipated, were easily dealt with by the home defenders. There was no penetration down the left whatsoever.
The best chances Liverpool had to score fell to Virgil van Dijk, one either side of the break, which is a damning fact in itself. In the first half, the Dutch defender inexplicably chose to square the ball for Firmino from the edge of six yards instead of going for goal himself, putting too much on the headed pass and confusing the Brazilian, and in the second, he slammed his header on target only to force a fine save from Dean Henderson.
Signings on the horizon?
On Wednesday, Liverpool face Ajax in Amsterdam. A point in that match would be enough to see them progress to the knockout stage and avoid needing something in the final round against a rampant Napoli. After that, it’s Leeds United at Anfield, and injuries or no, a failure to win would not go down well.
For may of their supporters who believe something would be done in the January market, the turn of the year cannot come quickly enough. However, it’s worth mentioning that every injured player should be back in action by then, and if so, it will hardly come as a surprise if nothing happens on that front.
In the summer, however, it’s a different story. Much has been said about Liverpool’s need to rebuild their ranks, particularly the midfield section. The club has often been accused of failing to refresh the squad properly year after year, as they only made notable additions to replace those who had chosen to leave – Thiago Alcantara after Georginio Wijnaldum left, Nunez after the departure of Sadio Mane, and so on.
Until now, this approach had no real consequences, but it seems the staleness of this team has finally caught up with Klopp. Even with all his players fit, there is no suitable alternative, for example, for Fabinho who has been unrecognizable in the last couple of games. The same can be said for Salah, with only 19-year-old Elliott capable of playing on the right attacking flank. With all due respect to the former Fulham youngster, the gap between them is painfully wide.
A winger is something Liverpool desperately need, someone who can step in and make an impact instead of Salah when called upon. Napoli star Kvicha Kvaratskhelia fits the description perfectly, but the 21-year-old Georgian will probably cost north of €100 million next summer. It’s up to the scouting department to identify an alternative.
But signing a creative midfielder should be on top of the list for the Merseysiders. They’ve been heavily linked with Borussia Dortmund’s Jude Bellingham, but the 19-year-old England international is currently being considered by every big club in Europe and like Kvaratskhelia, he won’t come cheap.
All in all, some changes in the Liverpool squad are long overdue, and now it’s come to the point where they need a proper overhaul. But for the time being, they have to address the issues plaguing the current group of players and do what it takes to finish inside the top four again, or signing the right players at the end of the season might prove even more difficult.
Well done, Forest
“It’s a great win, an important win,” manager Steve Cooper said after the final whistle. “But that’s all it is, a win. And we must use today now as a reference point to build and to improve out league position.
Efficiency – that’s the word that best describes the way Cooper’s team played in this match. With just 24% possession, the Garibaldi managed the same number of shots on target (seven) as Liverpool, not to mention winning the match in the end. It was a rather open fight until that decisive 55th minute when Awoniyi took advantage of a post rebound to slam past Alisson from close range. Afterwards, Forest practically played with two lines of five on the edge of their own box, and still managed to threated the visitors occasionally on the counterattack.
Forest made more than 20 signings this summer, and it was always going to take time for them to start working as a unit, and there were even reports suggesting Cooper might get the sack soon. However, the club responded by handing the manager a new contract, showing faith in him beyond the imagination of the media outlets who initially spouted the rumours.
It was a great day for Forest as a whole and for Cooper individually, but also for some of their players who obviously felt greatly motivated against Liverpool. One of them is surely Manchester United loanee Henderson, whose heroics between the posts will have brought joy to the supporters of Liverpool’s fiercest rivals.
What it means. ❤️ pic.twitter.com/X4ClQvxJ0M
— Nottingham Forest FC (@NFFC) October 22, 2022
Though he didn’t celebrate the goal too passionately, probably out of respect for his former employers, Awoniyi will have taken great pleasure in showing Klopp and his staff what they could’ve had. Neco Williams, on the other hand, had no issues celebrating the victory against his former club in a booming fashion, even though there were glimpses of his deficiencies in this match which probably had something to do with Liverpool’s decision to allow him to leave.
The aftermath
The result, as huge as it is, hasn’t really changed much for either side when it comes to the league table. With Leicester City victorious against Wolverhampton Wanderers, Forest are back at the bottom with their nine points from 12 matches so far, which obviously means they have to continue getting results if they wish to even dream of staying in the English top flight for 2023/24.
As for Liverpool, they’ve dropped now from seventh to eighth with Fulham the team to have overtaken them, but it’s the fact that they haven’t climbed up that will have hurt them the most. They won’t be too worried by the Cottagers, but it’s now even harder for them to catch up with the top four.
The Hillsborough chants
For decades, Liverpool fans and the families of the 97 of their number who lost their lives in the Hillsborough disaster on April 15th, 1989, have been struggling not only for the world to learn the truth about the horrible events of that day, but also to preserve mental health in the light of everything they had gone through then and every day since.
Their opponent in that fateful FA Cup clash was none other than Nottingham Forest, and as the inquests later revealed, it could have so easily been their own fans who died and went through such an ordeal, had the allocation of tickets been different. It could’ve been them in the Leppings Lane terrace of the Hillsborough stadium; chance was the only reason why it wasn’t. Many of them got away with mental scars from just witnessing the tragedy.
It is therefore extremely strange, vile even, that the stands of the City Ground on Saturday occasionally burst into offensive chants about the Hillsborough disaster. The people behind such an atrocity obviously have no moral values of any kind, and it’s a sad state of affairs that things like that are these days considered ‘banter’ by fans around England.
It should, however, be said, that there were those among the Forest supporters who strongly opposed and later regretted the actions of their fellows, openly exclaiming their disgust.
Forest fan here. Heard the vile Hillsborough / Tory chants and was disgusted to do so. Every solidarity. Could’ve easily been us on that awful day. JFT97!
— Charlie Bone (@charlie_bone) October 23, 2022
There really shouldn’t be any reason for anyone to explain why things like this should not be done, least of all by those who in their ranks still have witnesses of the tragedy, witnesses who keep wondering to this day if they would’ve made it out of there alive had they been in that section of the stadium.
Just like Liverpool cannot hide from their poor form this season, the Premier League and the English FA cannot hide from the fact that something needs to be done about this. Manchester City fans also used the vile chants at Anfield six days before, and though the club replied to an email by the Hillsborough Survivors Support Alliance, denouncing such acts and offering their apologies, they never made an open statement about it.
On Monday we emailed Manchester City to ask them to make a public statement condemning the songs, today we received this email. We have replied asking again for a public statement. They need to acknowledge the affect on people’s mental health pic.twitter.com/HTXxaTSLft
— Hillsborough Survivors Support Alliance (@HillsboroughSu1) October 20, 2022
The public needs to be taught, stadium bans need to be imposed, season tickets need to be revoked. Measures need to be taken.
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