Wayne Rooney issued a damning verdict of just how miserable an afternoon Liverpool endured in their 0-3 defeat at home to Nottingham Forest.
Arne Slot’s side slumped to their sixth loss in seven top-flight games on Saturday, dropping into the bottom half of the Premier League table as a result and prompting Martin Keown to remark that the ‘wheels have come off‘ for the Reds’ head coach.
While there was no little controversy over Murillo’s opening goal, the points seemed destined for Nottingham as soon as Nicolo Savona doubled their lead within a minute of the second half starting, with LFC mustering nothing in terms of a response.
Rooney: Forest ‘looked comfortable’ at Anfield
Speaking on BBC Radio 5 Live after the game, Rooney rightly praised Forest for their performance while also making a cutting remark to sum up Liverpool’s afternoon.
The former England striker said: “Forest were outstanding defensively. They were really organised and putting their bodies on the line; we know that’s what you get from a Sean Dyche team. Then they were effective on the break as well and caused Liverpool problems.
“Early on Liverpool had a few good chances and Anderson got a couple of excellent blocks in, but once Forest got the first goal, they looked like they didn’t have any answers. Forest looked comfortable.”
Rooney is right – it was all too easy for Forest
Those last three words from Rooney should send a shiver up Slot’s spine – Forest were indeed comfortable for the entire second half.
Even after Savona’s sucker punch within seconds of the restart, Liverpool still had enough time to gather themselves and show why they’re the reigning champions by unleashing a determined fightback.
Instead, they were worryingly submissive. Matz Sels made some decent stops but didn’t have to do anything spectacular to keep the Reds at bay, and while the statistics might indicate that the home side had 21 shots, only one of those was deemed a ‘big chance’ (Sofascore).
What good is 74% possession if you’re not going to carry any threat with it? Yes, Forest defended magnificently (Murillo and Elliot Anderson were particularly outstanding for them), but at no point did it seem like an onslaught on the visitors’ goal would be imminent.
Liverpool have lost games this season from last-gasp dramatics and fine margins; that wasn’t the case today. When hundreds of fans were streaming out of Anfield with almost 10 minutes of normal time remaining, that speaks volumes for how sobering a day it was for the Merseysiders.
As Rooney said, Forest were so comfortable. Full credit to them, of course, but it’s also a damning indictment of LFC’s performance that the game was effectively over as a contest with almost half of it still to play.
When you are this bad the manager needs to go, we’ve seen it all before under Rodgers, benitez, Hodgson ect. Certain players are now not playing for slot. You look at the opposition and it’s happening too many times now, we are being outrun by teams, teams are putting more effort in than we are, duels tackling ect. We have a squad of talented players but they look lost under slot. Defensively we are terrible, not organised properly without the ball, especially from set pieces. If you stick with slot where are we going to end, we won’t get champions league football next season, and that will be a financial disaster for the football club. Forest have been poor all season and they’ve just beat us with ease. No good buying more players in January it’s not going to improve anything, slot has had 450 million and giving him more money in January is a mistake. There’s certainly no mention now of give him a new contract. Look through premier league history and Dutch manager’s. They all end up getting found out, slot is another Erik ten hag and it’s going to get worse unless he’s sacked.
My fellow reds fan, who are we going to replace slot with at this point in time? I’m sure slot acknowledges the current pressure and tense situation. He wouldn’t be playing with his own career. Changes to the players and formation will come swiftly.
Just a thought, hypothetically, if slot wins the UCL but finishes 4th or even out of top 4, do you still want him as the coach of Liverpool?
N0. This is not a blip. It’s the real deal about Slot. He is not mentality monster material. There is a pattern in his wins and losses. No bad luck, but tactical failure. He has to go. No sympathy. Go.
Better tell LFC, Bel.
You clearly know more than they do.
Slot showed glimpses of his lack of tactical nous last year. However, Klopp’s team was so well-structured that it did not affect the results too severely, and Arsenal/City had a bad year.
SACK SLOT HE IS CLUELESS. Slot was lucky to be the manager to win the league with LFC last year and it was the anger that the players carried from losing the quadruple with klopp that they carried into the 24/25 season which won the league and could have even won the champions league only for Slots lack tactics which lfc lost to psg. Now that you have been backed heavily by the club see what you are doing. Klopp never had this kind of money to his disposal but still delivered with distinction. Shameful Slot
I think we need to look back at last season too. The title win was one of the lowest points tallies in PL history. Main opponents injury lists were horrendous by comparison so perhaps it wasn’t the magnificent team we were led to believe. The winning start to this season was squeaky bum stuff, conceding goals like mad and scraping 3 points with 98th minute goals e.g. they were shambolic against the 10 men of Newcastle. VVD also needs to do more, long balls to the wings and lots of pointing isn’t enough. His attempt at a block on the third goal looked like he didn’t want to get hurt or his hair messed up. Compare that with the last minute block from the young Sunderland centre half against Arsenal. That’s what a player of VVD’s reputation should be doing. Or perhaps the reputation differs from reality. Lastly let’s not make the excuses “poor Liverpool having to integrate £450m worth of players”. I bet managers like Silva or Glasner would have loved to have that “problem”. I suspect Slot like all the other Dutch managers has been or will be found out.
You might be right mate in suggesting the opponents last season are not playing to their potential. Man city was abysmal. Our success came too soon or perhaps it came too late for klopp’s players to deliver. If we did not win the title last season but we continue to improve from last season to this, perhaps the expectations from fans will not be that high.
ReM’s back everyone. Nice, level headed, coherent reasoning.
The virus is spreading, Ja.
A concerning development that susceptible LFC fans could implode.
I think i can still repeat what I’ve often said about Arne Slot. I was not carried away by lfc winning the CL last season. That was just luck but you dont stretch luck too far. To me he’s not added anything, in terms of style of play, to the lfc he inherited from Klopp. For me, in order for lfc to avoid relegation, a change of manager has to happen. It’s important to consider the league he’s coming from. Premier league this season is tougher than last season. The club is bigger than him.