In keeping with individual results don’t matter that much in the grand scheme of things, I’d be fine with a draw here.
Don’t play into Forests hands too much. Keep it tight ourselves, don’t go chasing it too much and hope for a bit of quality or luck to win the match, or win it with our subs (like we did at Forest last season).
People won’t like a draw on the back of our recent results, but it’s the bigger picture. The target is 85pts plus and 1 at Forest is fine.
The tendency might be to think of this like Boxing Day 2019 vs. Leicester City (away at surprising contender). But form and styles are too different. Reason for concern here is valid and clear. Like Josh said, Forest wait for mistakes. We have been making far too many lately, easy giveaways and misplaced passes. Hopefully getting key guys some rest over the weekend and Slot being a little more experienced and prepared will be the difference.
Truly feels like a game where the first goal will dictate the entire affair. We get it and it could be comfortable. If they get it, we’ll likely be in for a frustrating afternoon
Like Josh said, this will be a real test to how much is this Slot's team vs how much Klopp is still in there. At our best under Jurgen we would completely overwhelm teams with our speed, aggression, one touch attacks, and "Intensity" (TM); we all know how open we could be at our worst under Klopp (still not bad). Slot wants us to be more of a boa constrictor, slowly suffocating our opponents through possession, patience, and a different sort of intensity. Like JA mentioned, the longer it stays 0-0, the more I worry Forest will enjoy it and some of our players might get a little overaggressive.
If we are asking for predictions, I am going to get a bit wild and say, the Reds score first at the end of the first half. Then in the second we hit them for another and the last 30 minutes are more open than Slot or Nuno want, but result in an entertaining 3-1 Liverpool victory!
This game very much reminds me of the away trip to Leicster during the title-winning season. We were clear in 1st around the Xmas period and Leicster was a surprise 2nd. All the indicators were it was our league to lose, yet there was reservation traveling to King Power to play a surprise challenger. We easily dispatched them 4-0 and the rest is history. I certainly don't expect that type of performance, but if the result is 3 points, I think the fanbase will truly begin to believe it may just happen.
Very nervous about this game. An early goal for either side could really change the game, and the longer it goes 0-0 the greater the tension and happier forest will be.
Hoping we score early! But I guess we are likely to see what slot can learn from watching/playing against a team, and whether he is able to implement his solutions second time around!
Is it one for to leave Trent on the bench ? His offensive qualities versus his defensive weaknesses - do you start with Bradley and consider a fresh Trent depending on how the game is going?
I'm not particularly nervous about this game. Are Forest really going to sit in their own box for 90 minutes at home? The crowd will get on their backs.
Like the other lad below (unless he's above), it really wouldn't surprise me if we repeated that Leicester game and battered them 4-0.
We'll have loads of the ball and then they've got to go all the way down the other end and score. Not easy. In theory.
The Forest goal at Anfield should never have been scored. Bradley doesn't do much wrong, Hudson-Odoi shifts inside for a curler, but IIRC it's Ibou that turns his back on it (Oh, Ibou!) and then Alisson, as seems to be his wont this season, doesn't even bother diving for it and looks surprised it's gone in.
Elanga is decent. When he got sold, and Anthony and Sancho got retained, I laughed. Oops.
The worry, as it is in any game now, is Trent getting targeted. He is the most dribbled past defender in world football (leagues for which anyone bothers recording stats) for the last eighteen months (and no doubt further back). He just doesn't bother even attempting tackles, in fact I've seen him on multiple occasions actively jump out the way of any contact (Souness would have ripped him to pieces for that). If that was bad enough, then you have the jogging back issue, which has been going on since, well, defo since the European Cup Final in 2022 when Vinicius junior had the freedom of the park. Had Trent bothered defending that day, Liverpool might be a bigger club in European history, and Real Madrid might be a smaller one.
No use crying over spilt milk? Crying, no, but addressing it, yes, because it has continuously been burning the LFC hob ever since. Heitinga had supposedly taken the pan off the heat with his little 1-to-1s with Trent (and everyone else), but the issue will always be there as we saw in the Manchester United game (hardly a one-off and the last eighteen months of stats prove it).
Still, Ibou is back, and seen in training without a knee brace. Good. We're gonna need him.
Theory has it that Trent is so valuable to the team going forward that we can carry him. But he gave the ball away twenty-seven times against Manchester United, all on his own, which I thought might be a world record for a player giving the ball away, until I saw that in the 1-0 loss to Forest he somehow managed to give the ball away thirty-three times. All on his own.
But if we're on our game, as we've seen in recent weeks against Spurs and West Ham, we will win. It's all about us. If we're on our game, we win.
I don't see a point here as a good point. We need to maintain the gap until the Everton game and then take that three points. Never mind where Forest are in the table. We don't want that gap closing, not even by two points. Any "Liverpool are faltering" noise needs killing dead.
I won't even mind if the first half hour is as comatose as a lot of games have been this season, even, amazingly, against Accrington Stanley. Do we really need to pass it round the back four and the goalkeeper for half an hour against a fourth division side, at Anfield, in the FA Cup? Every side seems to do this now and it is boring as f. In the old days a quick round of "Attackattackattack!" would have let the manager and players know what the Kop thought.
There’s no chance the fans will get on their backs. They posted 30% of the ball at home to Spurs. They even found a way to give 64% of the ball to Dyche’s Everton.
Forest celebrating 90 minutes of anti-football like they'd won the league.
Not that disappointed with a draw, despite backing us to win. Once you go behind to that lot, getting a point out of it feels like a point won rather than two lost. I felt the same after Newcastle, as they played very well and are in good form. The same with Fulham, after going down to ten men. But I can't keep being happy we've fought back to get a point. We need three points and fast. Starting at Brentford.
Three points and no assaults worthy of interest to the Crown Prosecution Service. Happy to see Jota stay on the bench, rather than him be on the pitch where he's in danger of Brentford thuggers doing mad stuff like throwing wardrobes at him.
Allison's scamper and slide for CHO's goal against us in the video - at the time I thought it was odd, but he seems to have stopped diving now....makes a decision he's not going to save it so lets it go in. Perhaps I'm being too harsh.
Playing for the win is the right thing to do, but it’s not the maddest shout to suggest a draw would be a decent result here. These are joint-second, it’s away from home, five clean sheets in a row, seven wins in a row. This is a big game.
I don’t think anyone is suggesting not playing to win!!
Our recent form has not been great, Forest are playing very well, our style suits theirs. Perhaps a point away to the second best team in the league isn’t a bad result. Of course I want us to play for the win. Also, please calm down 😊
In keeping with individual results don’t matter that much in the grand scheme of things, I’d be fine with a draw here.
Don’t play into Forests hands too much. Keep it tight ourselves, don’t go chasing it too much and hope for a bit of quality or luck to win the match, or win it with our subs (like we did at Forest last season).
People won’t like a draw on the back of our recent results, but it’s the bigger picture. The target is 85pts plus and 1 at Forest is fine.
Forecasting a win. This is a team a shit City put to the sword 3 nil. Backing the lads to snap back in
Well that’s made me more nervous than before thanks mate😂
The tendency might be to think of this like Boxing Day 2019 vs. Leicester City (away at surprising contender). But form and styles are too different. Reason for concern here is valid and clear. Like Josh said, Forest wait for mistakes. We have been making far too many lately, easy giveaways and misplaced passes. Hopefully getting key guys some rest over the weekend and Slot being a little more experienced and prepared will be the difference.
Truly feels like a game where the first goal will dictate the entire affair. We get it and it could be comfortable. If they get it, we’ll likely be in for a frustrating afternoon
Like Josh said, this will be a real test to how much is this Slot's team vs how much Klopp is still in there. At our best under Jurgen we would completely overwhelm teams with our speed, aggression, one touch attacks, and "Intensity" (TM); we all know how open we could be at our worst under Klopp (still not bad). Slot wants us to be more of a boa constrictor, slowly suffocating our opponents through possession, patience, and a different sort of intensity. Like JA mentioned, the longer it stays 0-0, the more I worry Forest will enjoy it and some of our players might get a little overaggressive.
If we are asking for predictions, I am going to get a bit wild and say, the Reds score first at the end of the first half. Then in the second we hit them for another and the last 30 minutes are more open than Slot or Nuno want, but result in an entertaining 3-1 Liverpool victory!
This game very much reminds me of the away trip to Leicster during the title-winning season. We were clear in 1st around the Xmas period and Leicster was a surprise 2nd. All the indicators were it was our league to lose, yet there was reservation traveling to King Power to play a surprise challenger. We easily dispatched them 4-0 and the rest is history. I certainly don't expect that type of performance, but if the result is 3 points, I think the fanbase will truly begin to believe it may just happen.
Very nervous about this game. An early goal for either side could really change the game, and the longer it goes 0-0 the greater the tension and happier forest will be.
Hoping we score early! But I guess we are likely to see what slot can learn from watching/playing against a team, and whether he is able to implement his solutions second time around!
I'm starting to have pre-match nerves!!
Is it one for to leave Trent on the bench ? His offensive qualities versus his defensive weaknesses - do you start with Bradley and consider a fresh Trent depending on how the game is going?
Might be a game for Bradley first 60.
I'm not particularly nervous about this game. Are Forest really going to sit in their own box for 90 minutes at home? The crowd will get on their backs.
Like the other lad below (unless he's above), it really wouldn't surprise me if we repeated that Leicester game and battered them 4-0.
We'll have loads of the ball and then they've got to go all the way down the other end and score. Not easy. In theory.
The Forest goal at Anfield should never have been scored. Bradley doesn't do much wrong, Hudson-Odoi shifts inside for a curler, but IIRC it's Ibou that turns his back on it (Oh, Ibou!) and then Alisson, as seems to be his wont this season, doesn't even bother diving for it and looks surprised it's gone in.
Elanga is decent. When he got sold, and Anthony and Sancho got retained, I laughed. Oops.
The worry, as it is in any game now, is Trent getting targeted. He is the most dribbled past defender in world football (leagues for which anyone bothers recording stats) for the last eighteen months (and no doubt further back). He just doesn't bother even attempting tackles, in fact I've seen him on multiple occasions actively jump out the way of any contact (Souness would have ripped him to pieces for that). If that was bad enough, then you have the jogging back issue, which has been going on since, well, defo since the European Cup Final in 2022 when Vinicius junior had the freedom of the park. Had Trent bothered defending that day, Liverpool might be a bigger club in European history, and Real Madrid might be a smaller one.
No use crying over spilt milk? Crying, no, but addressing it, yes, because it has continuously been burning the LFC hob ever since. Heitinga had supposedly taken the pan off the heat with his little 1-to-1s with Trent (and everyone else), but the issue will always be there as we saw in the Manchester United game (hardly a one-off and the last eighteen months of stats prove it).
Still, Ibou is back, and seen in training without a knee brace. Good. We're gonna need him.
Theory has it that Trent is so valuable to the team going forward that we can carry him. But he gave the ball away twenty-seven times against Manchester United, all on his own, which I thought might be a world record for a player giving the ball away, until I saw that in the 1-0 loss to Forest he somehow managed to give the ball away thirty-three times. All on his own.
But if we're on our game, as we've seen in recent weeks against Spurs and West Ham, we will win. It's all about us. If we're on our game, we win.
I don't see a point here as a good point. We need to maintain the gap until the Everton game and then take that three points. Never mind where Forest are in the table. We don't want that gap closing, not even by two points. Any "Liverpool are faltering" noise needs killing dead.
I won't even mind if the first half hour is as comatose as a lot of games have been this season, even, amazingly, against Accrington Stanley. Do we really need to pass it round the back four and the goalkeeper for half an hour against a fourth division side, at Anfield, in the FA Cup? Every side seems to do this now and it is boring as f. In the old days a quick round of "Attackattackattack!" would have let the manager and players know what the Kop thought.
Forest 0 Liverpool 3 (Danns, Danns, Danns)
There’s no chance the fans will get on their backs. They posted 30% of the ball at home to Spurs. They even found a way to give 64% of the ball to Dyche’s Everton.
Well you called that right. Me wrong.
Forest celebrating 90 minutes of anti-football like they'd won the league.
Not that disappointed with a draw, despite backing us to win. Once you go behind to that lot, getting a point out of it feels like a point won rather than two lost. I felt the same after Newcastle, as they played very well and are in good form. The same with Fulham, after going down to ten men. But I can't keep being happy we've fought back to get a point. We need three points and fast. Starting at Brentford.
Three points and no assaults worthy of interest to the Crown Prosecution Service. Happy to see Jota stay on the bench, rather than him be on the pitch where he's in danger of Brentford thuggers doing mad stuff like throwing wardrobes at him.
Allison's scamper and slide for CHO's goal against us in the video - at the time I thought it was odd, but he seems to have stopped diving now....makes a decision he's not going to save it so lets it go in. Perhaps I'm being too harsh.
Would you take a point?
Playing for the win is the right thing to do, but it’s not the maddest shout to suggest a draw would be a decent result here. These are joint-second, it’s away from home, five clean sheets in a row, seven wins in a row. This is a big game.
I don’t think anyone is suggesting not playing to win!!
Our recent form has not been great, Forest are playing very well, our style suits theirs. Perhaps a point away to the second best team in the league isn’t a bad result. Of course I want us to play for the win. Also, please calm down 😊