Forest's win at Anfield in the prior year seemed an anomaly in an typically dominant English top division home record for Liverpool. This recurrence in the current campaign, a decisively stronger success under Sean Dyche, was indicative of the issues afflicting the declining former winners.
Forest's exemplary display
Nottingham Forest proved exemplary as they recorded their biggest victory at the famous ground. Goals from Murillo, excellent at each end of the pitch, the full-back and the superb the playmaker spurred a deserved win for a squad that also secured a maid clean sheet in 20 top-flight fixtures.
The home side's woes
The hosts, on the other hand, were a chaotic as they suffered an 8th loss in eleven matches to fall into the second tier of the standings. Poor at set-plays, again, impotent in the final third, again, with Isak substituted after sixty-eight anonymous period, and defensively weak, they failed in each phase to yield to a back-to-back 3-0 defeat.
Initial control missing reward
For half an hour the home side held the advantage, the sporadic counter from Gibbs-White aside, but the shortcoming to capitalize on opportunities into the hard currency of scores cost them dearly. Mac Allister was given an initial opening from the forward's run into the box only for the Forest player to deliver a excellent line save with his forehead. Mac Allister had a second shot stopped shortly after while skilful footwork from Mohamed Salah produced another near-post opportunity for Milos Kerkez. An opposition player just did enough to put off the back into firing over.
Dead-ball vulnerability strikes once more
Liverpool's coach has frequently lamented the team's susceptibility to counterattacks and set-plays this season. There was new reason for concern when Forest scored first through a mix of the both aspects.
The Forest manager was aghast after Jesus failed to find Nicolás Domínguez in room on the break and presented the defender a chance to intercept. The following set-piece triggered celebratory moments in the Forest dugout, though, when Anderson's cross deflected off the captain to Murillo and the central defender hammered an unstoppable finish from six yards into the back of the net. There were similarities of the captain's chalked-off strike against the champions in the Forest's initial score with Dan Ndoye standing in an offside in front of the home side's recovered shot-stopper Alisson.
The review system calls and dispute
Predictably, the Van Dijk was quick to highlight the parallels to the match official, the ref. However, unlike Robertson at the Manchester, Dan Ndoye made no obvious action in front of the goalkeeper and the goal stood. The Premier League stated: "The initial ruling of a score was checked and confirmed by VAR – with it considered that Ndoye was not in the sightline of Alisson and avoided an interference that impacted an player."
The Reds were reprieved by the officiating team and the system 120 seconds following when Igor Jesus believed he had added to the visitors' lead.
The defender, who endured a terrible afternoon, made an unconvincing effort to remove an Ibrahim Sangaré's delivery and deflected the object against the Forest striker, who handled before finding the bottom corner of the keeper's goal. Andrew Madley, in contact with his assistant, disallowed the strike for a illegal use of hand that several footage were unable to verify or refute. League officials said: "The referee's call of invalid score was checked and upheld by the video assistant – with it deemed that Igor Jesus unintentionally handled the object before netting."
Second goal extends cushion
So much for the let-off. Within seconds of the resumption Alexis Mac Allister did not intercept a delivery towards Neco Williams inside the Liverpool box. Williams turned from his defender and laid their next goal on a platter for fellow wing-back Nicolò Savona, who located Alisson's roof of the net with a composed accurate strike.
Tactical adjustments fail
The manager made changes, bringing off the defender with the forward after 55 minutes and partnering the Les Bleus forward next to Alexander Isak. That experiment lasted for only less than a quarter-hour before the striker was replaced following a further anonymous performance. Chiesa and Rio Ngumoha were also introduced to the Liverpool attack but sloppiness in possession and solid opposition backline prevented the Reds at distance.
Late strike confirms the outcome
Forest displayed the skill and penetration that Liverpool were missing in the attacking phase to put the contest {beyond doubt|out of reach|conclusively
