Liverpool 2-2 Nottingham Forest
by Gene Sylvester
at Anfield 

IT IS FAIR to say that in recent history, Nottingham Forest have had the Indian sign over their Merseyside rivals with the East Midlanders boasting three victories out of the last four meetings between the clubs, without as much as conceding a goal during those wins.

And it was probably Oliver Glasner’s men who came away the happier of the two teams again with a 2-2 draw that saw his side pick up their first point of the season, despite the Forest boss expressing his frustration that his team failed to pick up all three points. 

“Everybody felt proud of our performance, but we feel frustrated about the result because it could have been and probably should have been a win. But the performance was top and the belief was top today,” stated the Forest coach after the final whistle.

It was the away side who had the better of the chances in the first half, with a close range effort from Igor Jesus in the 10th minute needing to be turned around the post by Jeremy Jacquet’s long outstretched leg, before Dan Ndoye headed harmlessly across the face of the goal and out for a goal kick from close range.

But in the 25th minute, the away side capitalised on their dominant first-half performance when a long punt forward by Forest goalkeeper Matt Sels was pulled down out of the sky by Jesus, who did well to hold off the physical challenge from Alexis Mac Allister on the edge of the Liverpool box.

The Liverpool midfielder seemed to nick the ball away from his fellow South American, but the ball broke to Forest captain Morgan Gibbs-White, who played the ball outside to the unmarked Ndoye, with the Swiss striker having the space and time to deliberately pass his low shot into the far corner of the net, beyond the dive of Alisson Becker in the Liverpool goal.

Jesus could have made it two before the break, but his first-time shot from 12 yards following an Ola Aina low cross was brilliantly turned onto the bar and behind for a corner by the fingertips of Alisson.

Fresh from the news of Bradley Barcola’s medical being booked in for the following day, all eyes were on Cody Gakpo, with his position being the most likely under threat in the team, amid widespread rumours of a potential departure to Spurs.

And the dutch winger, playing on the right of the attack, was the architect of Liverpool’s equaliser on the hour when he slipped the attention of Murillo and former Liverpool defender Neco Williams before flashing a low cross to the back post, where Alexander Isak was arriving to tap the ball into the net from two yards out.

Forest were back in front within 10 minutes courtesy of a Gibbs-White penalty, awarded by referee Sam Barrett after Alisson appeared to clip the feet of Williams after the Forest full-back had beaten the Brazilian to the ball in the area.

The Forest captain stepped up to send the Liverpool keeper the wrong way, dispatching the ball to the keeper’s right.

But the home side found their equaliser in the 82nd minute when a Florian Wirtz eye-of-the-needle pass into the box found new signing Victor Munoz, who took the ball on the spin before blasting his right-footed shot past Sels and high into the net via the underside of the bar, scoring his first goal for the club following his summer arrival from Osasuna.

“The first half was poor from our side, but we improved a lot in the second half,” bemoaned the Liverpool manager.