As Arne Slot ponders the prospect of Nottingham Forest’s visit to Merseyside this weekend, it seems inevitable that his thoughts will drift back to last season’s equivalent fixture. Liverpool’s defeat that day, the first of Slot’s Anfield spell, haunted the Dutchman for months afterwards; in many ways it never left him.
Forest’s first win at Liverpool since 1969 came courtesy of Callum Hudson-Odoi, who settled a match in which the hosts were otherwise dominant with a neatly curled effort from the edge of the penalty area. But it was Nuno Espírito Santo’s tactics that most stunned Slot that September day.
“This is a different game to the ones we’ve played so far because we faced a low block, so the team we faced played very low,” the Liverpool manager said as a run of three consecutive wins came to an abrupt halt. “We had a lot of ball possession, but we couldn’t create much.”
Slot also described the result as “a major setback”; in fact it proved nothing of the sort. Liverpool would not lose another league match until April. By the time Fulham ended their 26-match unbeaten streak with a 3–2 win at Craven Cottage, the title was all but won. Still, the defeat remained with Slot, who referred to it repeatedly in the weeks and months that followed, starting with the next game.
‘Unbelievable that you lose at home to Nottingham Forest’
“It’s unbelievable that you lose at home to Forest if you can play like that today,” Slot mused after a 3-1 Champions League win over AC Milan at the San Siro.
The following weekend brought another resounding victory, this time against Bournemouth. However, Forest was still on Slot’s mind. “It’s a bit strange that we didn’t concede today and against Nottingham Forest we did because, looking at the chance creation, the other team created a lot more today than Nottingham Forest,” he said.
Just over a month later, when Liverpool defeated Chelsea at Anfield to regain top spot in the league, Slot commented: “In the end you get the same number of points as when you play against Nottingham Forest.”
Enough already? Not as far as Slot was concerned. After a successful second-half battle against Brighton at Anfield in early November, he commented: “I didn’t ask them to score two goals, I just asked them to play a different second half to what we played against Nottingham Forest.”
In January, when Liverpool visited the City Ground for the return leg, Forest fans were openly delighted by the Dutchman’s inability to let it go. “We’re in your head, Arne,” they sang to the tune of The Cranberries’ 1994 classic Zombie. They weren’t wrong.
How Nottingham Forest exposed Liverpool’s vulnerability
Wounded pride was undoubtedly an aspect of Slot’s preoccupation with what was at the time the only blemish on his Anfield notebook. But a deeper reason was the concern that his side could be vulnerable to teams who sat deep, defended in numbers and tried to get around Liverpool’s midfield with long balls.
That is partly why the club spent such large sums on the acquisition of Florian Wirtz, Hugo Ekitike and Alexander Isak. What better way to combat a low lockout than calling in a master locksmith like Wirtz? Who better to add the finishing touches than Ekitike, the scorer of 15 goals in 33 Bundesliga games, or Isak, second only to Mohamed Salah in last season’s Premier League scores?
Clearly, things have not gone as expected. Instead of outplaying opposing teams and scoring more goals, Liverpool have gone backwards and struggled to absorb changes in personnel and approach. They are comfortably the highest scoring team in the division last season and are currently sixth in terms of goals scored. They have also conceded more long balls than any other team (650), with opposition managers no doubt encouraged by Slot’s frank admission that “it is a very good strategy to play” against his side, a strategy for which they “have not yet found an answer”.
Liverpool-Nottingham Forest invites you to focus on the bigger picture
Despite these well-documented difficulties, Forest’s visit to Anfield this weekend feels more like a big-picture moment than a time to dwell on the finer details. In a sense, Slot has come full circle. The defeat to Nottingham Forest last season had a decisive impact on Liverpool’s season; it became a source of momentum, a reference point for the title-winning push that followed. A win this time could be a more positive touchstone for the rest of the campaign.
Liverpool’s loss to Manchester City before the international break was the first time since the defeat at Forest that they have failed to score in a league match. A reset is needed, and there is no better time to implement it than at Anfield, against a team currently one place bottom of the table.
We do not want to downplay the threat posed by Forest. Sean Dyche knows what it takes to win at Liverpool. In January 2021, Dyche’s Burnley ended Liverpool’s 68-match unbeaten run at home with a 1–0 win; now he has better players at his disposal and has had over a fortnight to come up with a winning strategy. Yet the fact remains that Liverpool are the reigning champions and have one of the strongest and most expensive squads in the division. To put it bluntly, they should beat Forest.
Liverpool’s favorable run of games
The significance of the game is all the greater because it marks the beginning of a relatively auspicious series of matches. In their eleven matches so far, Liverpool have played Arsenal, Manchester United, Everton and Aston Villa at home, and Newcastle, Chelsea and Manchester City away. That run includes all their other top-six teams from last season and two derbies that are never less than fiercely contested.
However, before Liverpool travel to Arsenal on January 8, they play Forest, Sunderland, Brighton, Wolves and Leeds at Anfield, and West Ham, Leeds, Tottenham and Fulham on the road. Only three of those nine matches are against teams currently higher than 15th. In the same period, Arsenal’s opponents included Tottenham, Chelsea, Aston Villa home and away, Brighton and Bournemouth. After the thigh injury suffered by Gabriel on international duty, the league leaders may have to negotiate all those games without the cornerstone of their defense.
The opportunity for Liverpool to make up ground in their faltering title defense is clear. But first they must ensure that Nottingham Forest’s visit to Merseyside this season remains memorable for all the right reasons.
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