Steve Cooper walked off shaking his head and puffing out his cheeks, his depression simple to look. Nottingham Forest led to mayhem at Anfield however a self-destructive streak at set-pieces ruined any hope their show generated for the combat in opposition to relegation. Liverpool authorised the presents gratefully to rack up the a centesimal house league win of Jürgen Klopp’s reign.
An eleventh recreation with no win left Forest 2nd from backside and their supervisor an image of simmering frustration. A treasured level was once tantalizingly shut in opposition to a Liverpool group not able to deal with Moussa Niakhate’s lengthy throws and taking evasive defensive motion within the final phases. Their personal incapability to protect set-pieces value them.
Liverpool scored from 3 to transport to inside of six issues of fourth-placed Newcastle. Diogo Jota struck two times for the second one recreation in succession, having long gone a yr with no objective prior to now. Forest leveled on each events thru former Liverpool defender Neco Williams and Morgan Gibbs-White, scoring two times at the highway for the primary time within the Premier League this season. It was once no longer sufficient. Mohamed Salah transformed a Trent Alexander-Arnold free-kick to transport degree with Robbie Fowler in 6th on Liverpool’s all-time goalscorers’ chart. Forest got here again yet again and virtually equalized for a 3rd time when change Brennan Johnson struck the crossbar. Hence the anguish on Cooper’s face when he heads for the tunnel.
“The result and conceding three again add to the negative run we are on,” mentioned the wooded area supervisor. “But taking a look on the recreation in isolation the massive frustration for me is we’ve got conceded 3 objectives from set items. They had been all truly avoidable. It was once at all times going to be a surprisingly tricky recreation. To have minimized Liverpool to only a few probabilities from open play tells me we’ve got performed some respectable issues however we misplaced, and that is the reason the be all and finish all.”
It was almost 25 years since Forest last played a league game at Anfield. Their raucous fans marked the occasion with a fine tribute to the 97 Liverpool supporters who were unlawfully killed at Hillsborough due to gross negligence by South Yorkshire police. At 3.06pm, the time the FA Cup semi-final between the two clubs was halted in 1989, Forest fans unveiled a huge banner that read: “Respect the 97th. Solidarity with Survivors. No To Tragedy Chanting. Anfield responded with warm applause all round.
A tedious first half was quickly forgotten amid a flurry of goals, end-to-end entertainment and terrible defending after the restart. Set-pieces were Liverpool’s greatest threat all afternoon. Virgil van Dijk, Ibrahima Konate, Cody Gakpo and Jota all went close from free-kicks or corners before the interval, although the hosts’ dominance of possession failed to translate into clear-cut opportunities.
That changed two minutes into the second half when an Alexander-Arnold corner struck Niakhate on the chest and rebounded to Fabinho. The midfielder headed back across goal for Jota to nod home from two yards out.
Forest were soon level when Liverpool were prized open by a routine Niakhaté throw down the line that Taiwo Awoniyi turned inside to Gibbs-White. The playmaker released the advancing Williams on the right and the Wales international’s low drive beat Alisson via a deflection off Andy Robertson’s shins. Williams kept his celebrations in check against his former club.
The visitors fell asleep at a Robertson free-kick moments later, enabling Jota to receive the delivery on the penalty spot, chest, turn and volley beyond Keylor Navas before any defender came near him. Only Bournemouth have conceded more goals from set-pieces this season than Cooper’s team, but they leveled again when another Niakhate throw caused panic inside the Liverpool area. Gibbs-White volleyed Felipe’s flick on into the bottom corner via slight deflections off both Konaté and Alexander-Arnold.
Forest let parity slip through their fingers once again when Salah easily held off Remo Freuler to steer Alexander-Arnold’s free-kick beyond Navas. Liverpool held on nervously, Johnson hitting the bar after escaping behind Konate and lobbing Alisson, to leave their manager toasting his century of Anfield league wins with obvious relief.
“Their throws created a correct mess, we weren’t ready neatly sufficient for them,” admitted Klopp. “But I noticed some best counter-pressing, we’re a lot clearer in that division now, and defensively we’ve got one thing to construct on. It appears like the primary time this season to me, that we have got that, and now we need to use it. Hopefully it isn’t too overdue.