Liverpool slumped to a first defeat of the Arne Slot era in uninspiring fashion at Anfield, with lessons to be learned for the new man in charge.
Bad decisions in the final third thwarted numerous Liverpool attacks and chances to win throughout this game.
It was something that affected the whole team, suggesting it might not be a case of individual poor performance, but an issue with the setup.
One Mohamed Salah shot in the second half summed up their attacking play as it landed closer to the corner flag than to the goal.
When in a promising position with 15 minutes to go, Salah took a shot when he had three teammates lining up at the far post.
It was not just Salah; Diogo Jota and Luis Diaz also struggled in attack, and those behind them weren’t much better.
Dominik Szoboszlai’s pass success in the Premier League so far this season has been at an impressive 93%, but in this game, it was down to 78%.
Salah’s has also been high for a forward at 87%, but in this game, it dropped to 70%.
There was a sloppiness that bordered on confusion at times and at one point two players ran into each other while looking to take control of an attacking move.
Alongside the trouble the players were having, none of Slot’s changes to remedy the situation worked, and the second faded out rather than bringing Liverpool back into the game.
Partly due to this sloppy play on the ball, there was not much for fans to get behind at any point.
Lacking some of the heavy metal, tireless counter-pressing, it was left to the play on the ball to get the crowd going, and it rarely did.
Diaz hit the post and Matz Sels almost dropped the ball into his own goal, but other than these moments there was no real verve on the field in to liven the crowd in the stands.
These lulls did occasionally happen under Jurgen Klopp, of course, and this won’t always happen under the new regime, but there was something flat about this whole display.
Some of it was down to the way Forest set up, and the visitors did well, but a frustrated Anfield reflected a group of frustrated players.
If we thought Slot’s arrival would signal the end of Trent Alexander-Arnold the midfielder, we were mistaken.
In an attempt to inject something different into Liverpool’s struggling attack in the second half, Conor Bradley came on to replace Alexis Mac Allister which saw Trent move into midfield.
It meant the shape of the midfield three was more 1-2 than the two holding midfielders we’ve seen in recent weeks with Gravenberch and Mac Allister behind Szoboszlai in a 2-1 midfield formation.
