Arne Slot got his first taste of defeat as Liverpool boss on Saturday as his side lost 1-0 to Nottingham Forest in the Premier League, with visiting manager Nuno Espírito Santo out-foxing the Dutchman in a fascinating encounter.
Forest got their tactics spot on, packing the centre of midfield and crowding out Liverpool’s wide players. And although the home side had some decent chances in the first half, they were not clinical enough in front of goal.
“The result frustrates the most, and we cannot be happy about how the game went. It was a stop-start game and we hardly created any chances,” Slot said.
“We only have to look at ourselves — we have to be better. Far too many times we lost the ball around the area, it was not good enough. We have to be better with the ball.”
Forest’s solid block may have left Liverpool short of space but they were their own worst enemies at times and substitutes Anthony Elanga and Callum Hudson-Odoi combined for the latter to score on the counter and claim three points for the visitors.
“Our decisions and execution weren’t good enough. In general we defended quite well, but the two fast players came on and made it difficult. We took a lot of risk and in the end it was a very good goal,” Slot added.
Forest’s Portuguese coach Espirito Santo was delighted with how his side executed the game-plan.
“The only way to achieve anything here is if you are organised and do everything that you can,” he said.
“When you start the way we started with our wingers Nico Dominguez and Elliot Anderson, all the effort of them tracking Liverpool’s full-backs, it is a lot of energy.”
After flirting with relegation in previous seasons, Forest find themselves in fourth position with eight points from four games after their win. Liverpool are second with nine.
“We are working hard, and it is about building and believing in this idea that you can develop,” Espirito Santo said.