DOMINIC KING: Liverpool fans vote with their feet during Forest win
DOMINIC KING: Liverpool fans vote with their feet after another confusing afternoon against Nottingham Forest – it has been jarring for their supporters to accept the reality check of this season
- Liverpool defeated Nottingham Forest 3-2 at Anfield on Saturday afternoon
- Diogo Jota scored twice while Mohamed Salah got the winner for the Reds
- Many of the home supporters had started to leave the Main Stand in the match
Time was ticking down as Jurgen Klopp span around to look away from the action, as if his attention had been diverted.
Liverpool were grimly holding on to three points against Nottingham Forest but it had been another confusing afternoon, with the good moments offset by indecision, and many of those in the Main Stand had begun to leave.
This was not the kind of wide-scale dispersal that had been evident last autumn when Leeds beat Klopp’s team or when they had fortuitously drawn against Brighton but it was sufficiently noticeable and the manager appeared to be taken aback.
Asked for clarification, Klopp insisted that he was not paying attention to those who were upping and leaving, rather that he had been in discussions with the fourth official over the amount of injury time (five minutes) that was being played.
Still, you could not help but think. Anfield’s crowd have been spoilt by the football Klopp has conjured from his team over the last five years and it has been jarring for them to accept a reality check this campaign.
Liverpool defeated Nottingham Forest 3-2 on Saturday in a back-and-forth match at Anfield
Diogo Jota continued his fine scoring form for the Reds, bagging a brace of goals in the game
Mohamed Salah got the winner to help Jurgen Klopp’s side keep their late top-four charge alive
MATCH FACTS
LIVERPOOL (4-3-3): Alisson 6; Alexander-Arnold 7, Konate 6, Van Dijk 6, Robertson 7; Henderson 7, Fabinho 6 (Thiago 60mins, 6), Jones 7 (Milner 82); Salah 7.5, Gakpo 7 (Nunez 60, 6), Jota 8 (Diaz 81).
Scorers: Jota 47 55, Salah 70.
Manager: Jurgen Klopp 7.
NOTTINGHAM FOREST (3-4-2-1): Navas 7: Felipe 6 (Dennis 87), Niakhate 6, McKenna 6 (Worrall 30, 6): N Williams 7, Freuler 6 (Johnson 76), Mangala 6, Lodi 6 (Ayew 87): Gibbs-White 7, Danilo 6: Awoniyi 6.5 (Surridge 87).
Scorers: Williams 51, Gibbs-White 67.
Booked: Williams. Manager: Steve Cooper 6.
Referee: Michael Oliver 6.
Attendance: 53,325.
Klopp will not deliver fist bumps in front of the Kop after victories, as had become custom, as he sees little to celebrate in what he has called an ‘average season’ and the crowd, on days such as these, has lost its pizzazz.
The opportunity to reset, then, will be grasped.
‘In the season we’re having, it’s just important to have got the three points and now we move on,’ said Virgil van Dijk. ‘It’s big. Now we will prepare to face West Ham.
‘I’m certainly happy and buzzing to be out there, trying to get good results to put a run together.
‘It’s just about a game at a time and finding consistency. Stay positive and try to enjoy the rest of the games.’
There had been a number of things for the home crowd to enjoy, not least Diogo Jota’s resurgence and the winning goal from Mohamed Salah that enabled him to draw level in the all-time scoring list with Robbie Fowler on 183.
It was a beautiful finish, befitting a grander occasion and the fact Salah has got there in 71 fewer games is staggering. Forest needed to defend well to get anything from this encounter but, much to Steve Cooper’s dismay, that was not the case.
The same was also true for Liverpool and that, perhaps, explained why it all felt a little flat towards the end. Forest, with a bit more composure and devilment, ought to have taken advantage of the uncertainty.
Salah is in impressive scoring form, having now scored in three consecutive league matches
Neco Williams (right) scored the first for Nottingham Forest putting Liverpool on the back foot
Morgan Gibbs-White (left) followed up soon after to put the scoreboard back level at 2-2
‘This was always going to be an incredibly tough game,’ said Cooper, for whom Neco Williams and Morgan Gibbs-White scored fine goals.
‘To think we have minimised Liverpool to very few open-play chances tells me we have done some decent things.
‘But you can’t get away from the fact we have lost. We have to use the frustration and disappointment of keep conceding set-pieces into motivation. We are trying to stick together; you saw a real connection with the supporters.’
A connection for Liverpool, conversely, that needs restoring.
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