There have not been many games under Arne Slot where Liverpool were able to learn from their failures.

Aside from Fulham’s setup out of possession mirroring the tactics Enzo Maresca used for Chelsea to find space in Liverpool’s midfield and Manchester United overloading Liverpool’s right wing, the only other game where you could highlight Liverpool’s weaknesses this season was the loss to Nottingham Forest.

Forest have registered more wins than any other team in the league other than Liverpool and are flying under Nuno Espirito Santo’s pragmatic, counter-attacking team.

The questions that linger over Forest now at the halfway point of the season are whether they are real contenders or overachieving pretenders.

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Slot mentioned yesterday in his pre-match press conference that ‘The Tricky Trees’ deserve to be treated as title contenders.

Though Nottingham Forest have scored 29 times in comparison to Liverpol’s 47, it is in defence where Nuno’s team excels having conceded the same amount of goals as Slot’s team (19).

This resilient defensive setup was clear to see in the fixture at Anfield where for the most part, Liverpool weren’t as fluid in attack.

With the fire power they possess, they still created chances but in a completely different way to how we’ve seen them score for most of the season.

We’ve grown accustomed to see interchanges and rotations, a forward dropping deep with runs being made off these movements and balls in behind.

Not to mention, Trent Alexander-Arnold inverting from full-back and finding one of the wingers in space to run at defences.

Against Nottingham Forest however, and this is something we may see again in the game at the City Ground, because of how many men Forest had back Liverpool crossed the ball frequently.

There are six Forest defenders in the box with Murillo and Nikola Milenkovic as the centre-back pairing comfortable to deal with such situations, but because for most of the game Forest halted Liverpool’s space centrally, Liverpool had no choice but to look to play it wide to the wingers and cross into the box with accuracy.

You may normally think that for a team that attacks as well as Liverpool, this ‘direct’ method of attacking is more in hope and less in precision but if you have players like Trent Alexander-Arnold, Mac Allister and Mohamed Salah in your arsenal who can put the ball on a six pence, it’s actually a good plan b.

What Slot may do is lean into this angle a little more.

Granted the above image is taken just after a corner, but with Nottingham Forest outnumbering Liverpool 7 v 6 in the box, the cross from Alexander-Arnold is so accurate it reached Virgil Van Dijk at the back post.

In the first image, Liverpool have just two attackers in the box.

Compare this with the 2nd image and Liverpool have packed the box with more players, making the situation more dangerous.

The reason Liverpool had to resort to such tactics is because of the image below:

Even with Alexander-Arnold inverting into the centre of the pitch in midfield, Forest’s 3-3 shape meant that Liverpool had no way of finding space centrally.

Despite playing Ryan Gravenberch, Dominik Szoboszlai and Mac Allister all three midfielders were marked.

Morgan Gibbs-White, Chris Wood and Nicolas Dominguez squeezed Liverpool’s first two recievers on the ball in Szoboszlai and Gravenberch, just behind them, Ryan Yates, James Ward-Prowse and Elliot Anderson are doing the same to the two Liverpool players slightly more advanced.

Normally, there is room for Gravenebrch and Szoboszlai to receive and turn but Forest squeezed the centre of the pitch to ensure it was hard for Liverpool’s defence to make a pass.

What will worry Slot is Forest’s transitions.

They can immediatley go from the above shape and turn it into a counter-attacking opportunity.

It’s the same shape again from Nottingham Forest, Van Dijk is attempting to be risky, play a pass that breaks through the lines to find Alexander-Arnold in space, but when Ward-Prowse is able to intercept, all of a sudden Liverpool are short at the back.

The move leads to a Forest counter and Anthony Elanga almost scoring in space.

Nottingham Forest are such a problem because they’re a compact side and when you try to infiltrate their compact block, they have players quick enough to get the ball up the pitch in transition.

For Liverpool to stretch their lead at the top and guarantee momentum isn’t checked after the United and Tottenham games, they must be patient in their attacks, wary of conceding transitions and be open to attacking in ways they normally wouldn’t.

Make no mistake, the last thing Slot and Liverpool want to do is underestimate this well-drilled Forest side.

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