Perhaps it was football at its most illogical. Liverpool were triumphant after a first-half performance Arne Slot felt was their worst in his time at the club. They got a goal from a player who may have only been in a goalscoring position because one of his teammates was injured and after he had struggled in his original role, amid a collective malaise.
A team who have been aggrieved by refereeing decisions of late saw a seeming winner disallowed in contentious fashion and yet made off with three points. And Vitor Pereira, who seemed to have had an immediate impact with Nottingham Forest, reacted to his first home game in charge by saying: “I am frustrated, angry with football. Very, very unfair.”
He had a point in his argument, if not in the result. For Liverpool, Florian Wirtz’s back injury produced a benefit. Their supporters ended up celebrating just their second win at the City Ground in more than four decades by chorusing the name of their resident World Cup winner.
As his habit of scoring against Real Madrid shows, Alexis Mac Allister can supply major moments. Twice it seemed he had a decider against Forest. The first was disallowed and yet perhaps Liverpool’s sense of injustice provided the platform for the second.
But he did so twice from a position within the Forest penalty box. Which, when Slot drew up his plans, was not his. Wirtz should have been there. When he withdrew, Curtis Jones was the emergency No 10. He floundered there, as Mac Allister did in midfield. So Jones was redirected to right-back, Dominik Szoboszlai and Mac Allister given more advanced roles. And an hour later, the Argentinian, who had started as a passenger, ended as the match-winner.
And so Slot, who believes that decisions and fortune have gone against Liverpool this season, instead argued his side got lucky. “We have been on the wrong side of the score after a good performance too many times,” he said. “Today we got more than we deserved. A draw would have been a fairer result. The first half was really poor, the worst we have played. We lost almost every ball we touched.” The second period was better and, eventually, Slot could say: “My emotions were emotions of happiness and relief.”
Which came from Mac Allister’s late show. He had the ball in the Forest net twice: once seemingly inadvertently, once deliberately. The first was chalked off. The second also went to VAR, but this time the replays could not quash Liverpool’s joy.
Paul Tierney, long Jurgen Klopp’s least favourite official, disallowed what seemed the breakthrough goal. It went in off Mac Allister’s upper arm and back. Not that there was any sense the Argentinian knew anything about it. After Hugo Ekitike should have scored, but met Rio Ngumoha’s cross with a header that Stefan Ortega saved, Mac Allister’s back was turned as Ola Aina’s clearance struck him and rebounded into the Forest net. He knew it had hit his elbow. “I feel like it’s a bit harsh,” he said. “It’s a bit of both but I understand the rules.”
When it was ruled out, it seemed to cement Forest’s status as Liverpool’s bogey team. Until Szoboszlai, the one man taking his time as the clock ticked down, jinked to make a yard of space, whipped in a lovely cross and Virgil van Dijk’s goalbound header was blocked by Murillo. Mac Allister was the predator in the box again. “It was not a surprise to me that Macca was both times the goalscorer, he played with the mentality you need in these games and he was twice in the situation to finish,” said Slot.
Meanwhile, Wirtz was only visible beneath his hood in the stands. It was a game when Liverpool missed the German when they were shorn of creativity and chemistry. They looked a prosaic outfit with the £100m man and yet found a way to record just their second victory at the City Ground in more than four decades. The first required a 99th-minute decider by Darwin Nunez. This was only slightly earlier, similarly dramatic.
It was a remarkable end to a forgettable game. Seasons can turn on such moments. Liverpool are now level on points with Chelsea and Manchester United, their immediate rivals for a Champions League spot. Forest, meanwhile, were seemingly making an auspicious start to Pereira’s reign but were nudged closer to the Championship by Mac Allister. They started superbly yet fell apart at the last.
Forest had won 3-0 at Anfield under Sean Dyche; yet Liverpool began worse in the rematch, slow and sluggish, off the pace and out of sorts. Meanwhile, Forest looked liberated, a group of talented players freed from Dyche’s restrictive tactics. Omari Hutchinson was excellent. Callum Hudson-Odoi almost scored in the third minute, when Alisson denied him. Elliot Anderson drove a shot wide. “The first half was just missing the goals,” said Pereira, but that has been a theme of Forest’s campaign.
Liverpool had threatened only when Stefan Ortega made a close-range block from Jones; but part of Slot’s half-time message was that Forest, who had beaten Fenerbahce in Istanbul three days earlier, might tire. They did. “Our capacity to press them was not the same and in the end, we conceded,” rued Pereira. “But if we keep this mentality and organisation, we will get points, for sure.”
