Liverpool have no time to waste dwelling on the weekend’s Premier League result as they’re straight into Champions League action tonight.
It’ll be interesting to see how Arne Slot reacts to suffering his first loss as Liverpool boss, with the chance to put things right in a crunch Champions League clash at the San Siro.
The Reds are set to play more games than usual in the league stages of the competition, compared to the six games the group stage originally had in seasons gone by.
This could become a problem for Slot with the added minutes in the Liverpool players legs, with Harvey Elliott already suffering an injury.
However, there was nothing that could have been done against Nottingham Forest, as it just came down to a number of missed chances and a lapse in concentration.
There was one controversial moment in the match, where Michael Oliver appeared to opt against following protocol…
We had the big controversy involving Declan Rice’s red card during Arsenal vs Brighton after kicking the ball away so that Joel Veltman couldn’t restart proceedings quickly.
And, there was a very similar incident during Liverpool vs Nottingham Forest, which went unpunished.
In the 94th minute, Dominik Szoboszlai fouls a Nottingham Forest player on the right-hand side of the box, for which Michael Oliver blows his whistle. The Hungarian midfielder then blasts the ball across the box in anger after the whistle has already sounded, which by law should be a second yellow card.
According to the FA’s Law 12, Fouls and Misconduct, referees must caution players who delay the restart of play by kicking or carrying the ball away, or provoking a confrontation by deliberately touching the ball after the referee has stopped play.
Despite Nottingham Forest being in a promising position and probably wanting to waste their own time, it’s clear that Szoboszlai kicks the ball away after the whistle has gone.
What other instances has there been?
It’s a yellow card by the letter of the law but you can’t pin it on Liverpool being lucky as the inconsistencies in refereeing in the Premier League is a real issue.
Jurrien Timber was involved in an altercation with Vicario. He grabbed him by his shirt after putting in a yellow card-worthy challenge right before, which should have resulted in two yellows.
Joao Pedro also kicked the ball away during Arsenal vs Brighton, even after Declan Rice was sent off for the same offence and didn’t receive a yellow card for it.
Liverpool have been well and truly screwed by VAR and referee decisions in the past, with the famous Luis Diaz goal that wasn’t given despite being clearly onside upon review.
The fact that Szoboszlai’s incident was in the 94th minute and Liverpool were winning may have played a factor in Oliver keeping his card in his pocket, but there shouldn’t be caveats with rules in place.
