Liverpool facing turmoil as Forest storm Anfield again with three-nil victory

Forest's success at Anfield last season seemed an anomaly in an otherwise strong Premier League home record for Liverpool. Their repeat in the current campaign, a decisively stronger victory under their manager, was a clear sign of the problems afflicting the struggling champions.

Nottingham Forest's superb performance

Nottingham Forest proved impressive as they secured their biggest win at Anfield. Strikes from Murillo, excellent at either side of the playing surface, Nicolò Savona and the exceptional the playmaker inspired a merited win for a team that also secured a first clean sheet in twenty top-flight games.

Anfield's woes

Liverpool, on the other hand, were a disorganized as they experienced an eighth defeat in 11 fixtures to fall into the bottom half of the table. Ineffective at set-plays, again, unproductive in offense, consistently, with Alexander Isak substituted after 68 anonymous moments, and vulnerable at the back, they struggled in every area to succumb to a second successive heavy defeat.

Early dominance without reward

For half an hour Liverpool enjoyed the upper hand, the occasional break from the Forest attacker aside, but the shortcoming to capitalize on opportunities into the tangible reward of scores proved costly. the midfielder was offered an initial opening from Cody Gakpo's drive into the area only for Anderson to deliver a superb desperate block with his head. He had a follow-up attempt stopped shortly after while dazzling skill from Salah created another short-distance opening for Milos Kerkez. The visiting defender just did enough to disturb the back into blazing over.

Dead-ball frailty strikes once more

Liverpool's coach has often bemoaned his side's susceptibility to fast breaks and set pieces now. He was given new reason for frustration when the visitors opened the scoring through a mix of the each weakness.

Dyche was aghast after Igor Jesus failed to find Domínguez in room on the counter and presented Konaté a chance to intervene. The resulting corner caused jubilant moments in the away team's area, though, when Anderson's delivery touched Van Dijk to Murillo and the central defender hammered an irresistible shot from inside the box into the back of the net. There were echoes of Van Dijk's disallowed finish against the champions in the away team's opener with Ndoye located in an offside position in front of the home side's fit-again goalkeeper the Brazilian.

VAR rulings and dispute

As expected, the Liverpool captain was swift to highlight the comparisons to the official, the ref. However, unlike Andy Robertson at the Etihad Stadium, Dan Ndoye made no obvious action in front of the goalkeeper and the score stood. The league confirmed: "The initial ruling of a score was examined and confirmed by the video system – with it considered that he was away from the line of vision of Alisson and avoided an move that affected an opponent."

Liverpool were let off by the match officials and video review a short time after when Jesus was convinced he had doubled Forest's cushion.

The defender, who endured a poor match, made an feeble effort to deal with an Sangaré's delivery and directed the object against the forward, who controlled before finding the lower corner of Alisson's posts. Andrew Madley, in communication with his assistant referee, disallowed the strike for a illegal use of hand that multiple replays were unable to prove or refute. The Premier League stated: "The decision of invalid score was reviewed and upheld by the system – with it deemed that the player unintentionally controlled the ball before scoring."

Follow-up strike extends lead

Any hope from the reprieve. Moments of the restart Mac Allister was unable to cut out a ball towards Williams inside the Liverpool penalty area. The full-back spun away from his defender and laid their next goal on a plate for teammate full back Nicolò Savona, who picked out the keeper's roof of the net with a simple placed shot.

Managerial adjustments prove ineffective

Liverpool's coach went for broke, substituting Konaté with Hugo Ekitiké after 55 minutes and partnering the French forward next to Alexander Isak. This change persisted for only a short period before the striker was replaced following another ineffective showing. Federico Chiesa and the youngster were further added to the hosts' offense but sloppiness in play and sturdy opposition backline held the home side at distance.

Concluding strike wraps up the result

Nottingham Forest demonstrated the precision and cutting edge that the hosts were missing in the attacking phase to decide the game {beyond doubt|out of reach|conclusively